On Littlewood's boundedness problem for sublinear Duffing equations

In this paper, we are concerned with the boundedness of all the solutions and the existence of quasi-periodic solutions for second order differential equations

where the 1-periodic function is a smooth function and satisfies sublinearity:

     

Vector and matrix apportionment problems and separable convex integer optimization

The problems of (bi-)proportional rounding of a nonnegative vector or matrix, resp., are written as particular separable convex integer minimization problems. Allowing any convex (separable) objective function we use the notions of vector and matrix apportionment problems. As a broader class of problems we consider separable convex integer minimization under linear equality restrictions Ax = b with any totally unimodular coefficient matrix A. By the total unimodularity Fenchel duality applies, despite the integer restrictions of the variables. The biproportional algorithm of Balinski and Demange (Math Program 45:193–210, 1989) is generalized and derives from the dual optimization problem. Also, a primal augmentation algorithm is stated. Finally, for the smaller class of matrix apportionment problems we discuss the alternating scaling algorithm, which is a discrete variant of the well-known Iterative Proportional Fitting procedure.     

The relationship between integer and real solutions of constrained convex programming

We prove the following theorem which gives a bound on the proximity of the real and the integer solutions to certain constrained optimization programs.     

How to deal with the unbounded in optimization: Theory and algorithms

The aim of this survey is to show how the unbounded arises in optimization problems and how it leads to fundamental notions which are not only useful for proving theoretical results such as convergence of algorithms and the existence of optimal solutions, but also for constructing new methods.     

On Generalizations of the Frank-Wolfe Theorem to Convex and Quasi-Convex Programmes

In this paper we are concerned with the problem of boundedness and the existence of optimal solutions to the constrained optimization problem. We present necessary and sufficient conditions for boundedness of either a faithfully convex or a quasi-convex polynomial function over the feasible set defined by a system of faithfully convex inequality constraints and/or quasi-convex polynomial inequalities, where the faithfully convex functions satisfy some mild assumption. The conditions are provided in the form of an algorithm, terminating after a finite number of iterations, the implementation of which requires the identification of implicit equality constraints in a homogeneous linear system. We prove that the optimal solution set of the considered problem is nonempty, this way extending the attainability result well known as the so-called Frank-Wolfe theorem. Finally we show that our extension of the Frank-Wolfe theorem immediately implies continuity of the solution set defined by the considered system of (quasi)convex inequalities.     

On convex optimization with linear constraints

In this paper, we propose an interior-point method for minimizing a convex function subject to linear constraints. Our method employs ideas from a previously studied method due to Fan and Nekooie in a different context. Under certain assumptions, we show that the proposed method has a fast rate of convergence. A numerical example is included to illustrate the method.     

On the convex hull of the simple integer recourse objective function

We consider the objective function of a simple integer recourse problem with fixed technology matrix.Using properties of the expected value function, we prove a relation between the convex hull of this function and the expected value function of a continuous simple recourse program.We present an algorithm to compute the convex hull of the expected value function in case of discrete right-hand side random variables. Allowing for restrictions on the first stage decision variables, this result is then extended to the convex hull of the objective function.Supported by the National Operations Research Network in the Netherlands (LNMB).     

Existence of quasiperiodic solutions and Littlewood’s boundedness problem of super-linear impact oscillators

So far most application of Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (KAM) theory has been restricted to smooth dynamical systems. In this paper, it is shown by a series of transformations that how KAM theory can be used to analyze the dynamical behavior of Duffing-type equations with impact. The analysis is carried out for the example

(0.1)     

On the boundedness of solutions of the Chen system

By constructing a suitable Lyapunov function, we show that for the system parameters in some specified regions, the solutions of the Chen system are globally bounded.     

On the structure of convex piecewise quadratic functions

Convex piecewise quadratic functions (CPQF) play an important role in mathematical programming, and yet their structure has not been fully studied. In this paper, these functions are categorized into difference-definite and difference-indefinite types. We show that, for either type, the expressions of a CPQF on neighboring polyhedra in its domain can differ only by a quadratic function related to the common boundary of the polyhedra. Specifically, we prove that the monitoring function in extended linear-quadratic programming is difference-definite. We then study the case where the domain of the difference-definite CPQF is a union of boxes, which arises in many applications. We prove that any such function must be a sum of a convex quadratic function and a separable CPQF. Hence, their minimization problems can be reformulated as monotropic piecewise quadratic programs.This research was supported by Grant DDM-87-21709 of the National Science Foundation.     

A unified method for a class of convex separable nonlinear knapsack problems

In this paper, a unified algorithm is proposed for solving a class of convex separable nonlinear knapsack problems, which are characterized by positive marginal cost (PMC) and increasing marginal loss–cost ratio (IMLCR). By taking advantage of these two characteristics, the proposed algorithm is applicable to the problem with equality or inequality constraints. In contrast to the methods based on Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions, our approach has linear computation complexity. Numerical results are reported to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm for different problems.     

On a pair of nonlinear mixed integer programming problems

We consider maximin and minimax nonlinear mixed integer programming problems which are nonsymmetric in duality sense. Under weaker (pseudo-convex/pseudo-concave) assumptions, we show that the supremum infimum of the maximin problem is greater than or equal to the infimum supremum of the minimax problem. As a particular case, this result reduces to the weak duality theorem for minimax and symmetric dual nonlinear mixed integer programming problems. Further, this is used to generalize available results on minimax and symmetric duality in nonlinear mixed integer programming.     

On convex vectorial optimization in linear spaces

We give a new method of scalarization for convex vectorial optimization problems, with applications to best vectorial approximation and to scalar problems of optimization and best approximation.This research was supported in part by NCR A-8108, FCAC 74-09, and GETMA. The results of this paper have been obtained during the second author's visit, from May to September 1974, to the Département d'Informatique, Université de Montréal. The authors thank Dr. G. Godini for valuable remarks which simplified the original proof of the main result of this paper.     

On convex vectorial optimization in linear spaces

We observe that the results and proofs of Ref. 1 are valid only for finite convex functionals, and we give some other corrections to Ref. 1.     

On perimeters of sections of convex polytopes

In his book “Geometric Tomography” Richard Gardner asks the following question. Let P and Q be origin-symmetric convex bodies in R³ whose sections by any plane through the origin have equal perimeters. Is it true that P=Q? We show that the answer is “Yes” in the class of origin-symmetric convex polytopes. The problem is treated in the general case of Rn.     

Boundedness of solutions to a time-dependent semiconductor model

In this paper we obtain the boundedness of solutions to a time-dependent semiconductor model with variable electron mobility. The proof is based upon an interpolation inequality which is of interest on its own right.     

Lipschitz behavior of convex semi-infinite optimization problems: a variational approach

In this paper we make use of subdifferential calculus and other variational techniques, traced out from [Ioffe, A.D.: Metric regularity and subdifferential calculus. Uspekhi Mat. Nauk 55, 3(333), 103–162; Engligh translation Math. Surveys 55, 501–558 (2000); Ioffe, A.D.: On rubustness of the regularity property of maps. Control cybernet 32, 543–554 (2003)], to derive different expressions for the Lipschitz modulus of the optimal set mapping of canonically perturbed convex semi-infinite optimization problems. In order to apply this background for obtaining the modulus of metric regularity of the associated inverse multifunction, we have to analyze the stable behavior of this inverse mapping. In our semi-infinite framework this analysis entails some specific technical difficulties. We also provide a new expression of a global variational nature for the referred regularity modulus.      

A Reformulation-Linearization Technique (RLT) for semi-infinite and convex programs under mixed 0-1 and general discrete restrictions

The Reformulation-Linearization Technique (RLT) provides a hierarchy of relaxations spanning the spectrum from the continuous relaxation to the convex hull representation for linear 0-1 mixed-integer and general mixed-discrete programs. We show in this paper that this result holds identically for semi-infinite programs of this type. As a consequence, we extend the RLT methodology to describe a construct for generating a hierarchy of relaxations leading to the convex hull representation for bounded 0-1 mixed-integer and general mixed-discrete convex programs, using an equivalent semi-infinite linearized representation for such problems as an intermediate stepping stone in the analysis. For particular use in practice, we provide specialized forms of the resulting first-level RLT formulation for such mixed 0-1 and discrete convex programs, and illustrate these forms through two examples.     

Computation of efficient solutions of discretely distributed stochastic optimization problems

In engineering and economics often a certain vectorx of inputs or decisions must be chosen, subject to some constraints, such that the expected costs (or loss) arising from the deviation between the outputA() x of a stochastic linear systemxA()x and a desired stochastic target vectorb() are minimal. Hence, one has the following stochastic linear optimization problem minimizeF(x)=Eu(A()x b()) s.t.xD, (1) whereu is a convex loss function on ^m , (A(), b()) is a random (m,n + 1)-matrix, E denotes the expectation operator andD is a convex subset of ⁿ . Concrete problems of this type are e.g. stochastic linear programs with recourse, error minimization and optimal design problems, acid rain abatement methods, problems in scenario analysis and non-least square regression analysis.Solving (1), the loss functionu should be exactly known. However, in practice mostly there is some uncertainty in assigning appropriate penalty costs to the deviation between the outputA ()x and the targetb(). For finding in this situation solutions hedging against uncertainty a set of so-called efficient points of (1) is defined and a numerical procedure for determining these compromise solutions is derived. Several applications are discussed.