Stability and accuracy functions in a coalition game with bans,linear payoffs and antagonistic strategies

A coalition game with a finite number of players in which initial coefficients of linear payoff functions are subject to perturbations is considered. For any efficient solution which may appear in the game, appropriate measures of the quality are introduced. These measures correspond to the so-called stability and accuracy functions defined earlier for efficient solutions of a generic multiobjective combinatorial optimization problem with Pareto and lexicographic optimality principles. Various properties of such functions are studied. Maximum norms of perturbations for which an efficient in sense of equilibrium solution preserves the property of being efficient are calculated.     

Stability and accuracy functions for a multicriteria Boolean linear programming problem with parameterized principle of optimality “from Condorcet to Pareto”

A multicriteria Boolean programming problem with linear cost functions in which initial coefficients of the cost functions are subject to perturbations is considered. For any optimal alternative, with respect to parameterized principle of optimality “from Condorcet to Pareto”, appropriate measures of the quality are introduced. These measures correspond to the so-called stability and accuracy functions defined earlier for optimal solutions of a generic multicriteria combinatorial optimization problem with Pareto and lexicographic optimality principles. Various properties of such functions are studied and maximum norms of perturbations for which an optimal alternative preserves its optimality are calculated. To illustrate the way how the stability and accuracy functions can be used as efficient tools for post-optimal analysis, an application from the voting theory is considered.     

Stability analysis of the Pareto optimal solutions for some vector boolean optimization problem

In this article we consider the boolean optimization problem of finding the set of Pareto optimal solutions. The vector objectives are the positive cuts of linear functions to the non-negative semi-axis. Initial data are subject to perturbations, measured by the l ₁-norm in the parameter space of the problem. We present the formula expressing the extreme level (stability radius) of such perturbations, for which a particular solution remains Pareto optimal.     

Robustness analysis in Multi-Objective Mathematical Programming using Monte Carlo simulation

In most multi-objective optimization problems we aim at selecting the most preferred among the generated Pareto optimal solutions (a subjective selection among objectively determined solutions). In this paper we consider the robustness of the selected Pareto optimal solution in relation to perturbations within weights of the objective functions. For this task we design an integrated approach that can be used in multi-objective discrete and continuous problems using a combination of Monte Carlo simulation and optimization. In the proposed method we introduce measures of robustness for Pareto optimal solutions. In this way we can compare them according to their robustness, introducing one more characteristic for the Pareto optimal solution quality. In addition, especially in multi-objective discrete problems, we can detect the most robust Pareto optimal solution among neighboring ones. A computational experiment is designed in order to illustrate the method and its advantages. It is noteworthy that the Augmented Weighted Tchebycheff proved to be much more reliable than the conventional weighted sum method in discrete problems, due to the existence of unsupported Pareto optimal solutions.     

Stability of Local Efficiency in Multiobjective Optimization

Analyzing the behavior and stability properties of a local optimum in an optimization problem, when small perturbations are added to the objective functions, are important considerations in optimization. The tilt stability of a local minimum in a scalar optimization problem is a well-studied concept in optimization which is a version of the Lipschitzian stability condition for a local minimum. In this paper, we define a new concept of stability pertinent to the study of multiobjective optimization problems. We prove that our new concept of stability is equivalent to tilt stability when scalar optimizations are available. We then use our new notions of stability to establish new necessary and sufficient conditions on when strict locally efficient solutions of a multiobjective optimization problem will have small changes when correspondingly small perturbations are added to the objective functions.     

Painlevé–Kuratowski stability of approximate efficient solutions for perturbed semi-infinite vector optimization problems

This paper is concerned with the stability of semi-infinite vector optimization problems (SIVOP) under functional perturbations of both objective functions and constraint sets. First, we establish the Berge-lower semicontinuity and Painlevé–Kuratowski convergence of the constraint set mapping. Then, using the obtained results, we obtain sufficient conditions of Painlevé–Kuratowski stability for approximate efficient solution mapping and approximate weakly efficient solution mapping to the (SIVOP). Furthermore, an application to the traffic network equilibrium problems is also given.     

Stability of semi-infinite vector optimization problems without compact constraints

This paper is devoted to the continuity of solution maps for perturbation semi-infinite vector optimization problems without compact constraint sets. The sufficient conditions for lower semicontinuity and upper semicontinuity of solution maps under functional perturbations of both objective functions and constraint sets are established. Some examples are given to analyze the assumptions in the main result.     

Enhanced Efficiency in Multi-objective Optimization

For a given multi-objective optimization problem, we introduce and study the notion of α-proper efficiency. We give two characterizations of such proper efficiency: one is in terms of exact penalization and the other is in terms of stability of associated parametric problems. Applying the aforementioned characterizations and recent results on global error bounds for inequality systems, we obtain verifiable conditions for α-proper efficiency. For a large class of polynomial multi-objective optimization problems, we show that any efficient solution is α-properly efficient under some mild conditions. For a convex quadratically constrained multi-objective optimization problem with convex quadratic objective functions, we show that any efficient solution is α-properly efficient with a known estimate on α whenever its constraint set is bounded. Finally, we illustrate our achieved results with examples, and give an example to show that such an enhanced efficiency property may not hold for multi-objective optimization problems involving C ^∞-functions as objective functions.     

Partial regularity for harmonic maps of evolution into spheres

We consider the global Cauchy problem for generalized Kirchhoff equations with small non-linear terms or small data. We solve this problem in the space of functions which are twice differentiable with respect to time coordinate and uniformly analytic with respect to other coordinates. We determine, in two different situations, estimates of lifespan of solutions for some problems with perturbations and we give stability result of the solution for small perturbations.     

Lower convergence of approximate solutions to vector quasi-variational problems

In this article, various types of approximate solutions for vector quasi-variational problems in Banach spaces are introduced. Motivated by [M.B. Lignola, J. Morgan, On convergence results for weak efficiency in vector optimization problems with equilibrium constraints, J. Optim. Theor. Appl. 133 (2007), pp. 117–121] and in line with the results obtained in optimization, game theory and scalar variational inequalities, our aim is to investigate lower convergence properties (in the sense of Painlevé–Kuratowski) for such approximate solution sets in the presence of perturbations on the data. Sufficient conditions are obtained for the lower convergence of ‘strict approximate’ solution sets but counterexamples show that, in general, the other types of solutions do not lower converge. Moreover, we prove that any exact solution to the limit problem can be obtained as the limit of a sequence of approximate solutions to the perturbed problems.     

Successive approximation and linear stability involving convergent sequences of optimization problems

A certain convergence notion for extended real-valued functions, which has been studied by a number of authors in various applied contexts since the latter 1960s, is examined here in relation to abstract optimization problems in normed linear spaces. The main facts concerning behavior of the optimal values, the optimal solution sets and the -optimal solution sets corresponding to “convergent” sequences of such problems are developed. General linear perturbations are incorporated explicitly into the problems of the sequence, lending a stability-theoretic character to the results. Most of the results apply to nonconvex minimization.     

An approach for solving of a moving boundary problem

In this paper we shall study moving boundary problems, and we introduce an approach for solving a wide range of them by using calculus of variations and optimization. First, we transform the problem equivalently into an optimal control problem by defining an objective function and artificial control functions. By using measure theory, the new problem is modified into one consisting of the minimization of a linear functional over a set of Radon measures; then we obtain an optimal measure which is then approximated by a finite combination of atomic measures and the problem converted to an infinite-dimensional linear programming. We approximate the infinite linear programming to a finite-dimensional linear programming. Then by using the solution of the latter problem we obtain an approximate solution for moving boundary function on specific time. Furthermore, we show the path of moving boundary from initial state to final state.     

Unifying Optimal Partition Approach to Sensitivity Analysis in Conic Optimization

We study convex conic optimization problems in which the right-hand side and the cost vectors vary linearly as functions of a scalar parameter. We present a unifying geometric framework that subsumes the concept of the optimal partition in linear programming (LP) and semidefinite programming (SDP) and extends it to conic optimization. Similar to the optimal partition approach to sensitivity analysis in LP and SDP, the range of perturbations for which the optimal partition remains constant can be computed by solving two conic optimization problems. Under a weaker notion of nondegeneracy, this range is simply given by a minimum ratio test. We discuss briefly the properties of the optimal value function under such perturbations.     

On the stability of closed-convex-valued mappings and the associated boundaries

This paper deals with the stability properties of those set-valued mappings from locally metrizable spaces to Euclidean spaces for which the images are the convex hull of their boundaries (i.e., they are closed convex sets not containing a halfspace). Examples of this class of mappings are the feasible set and the optimal set of convex optimization problems, and the solution set of convex systems, when the data are subject to perturbations. More in detail, we associate with the given set-valued mapping its corresponding boundary mapping and we analyze the transmission of the stability properties (lower and upper semicontinuity, continuity and closedness) from the given mapping to its boundary and vice versa.     

Stability of semi-infinite vector optimization problems under functional perturbations

This paper is devoted to the study of continuity properties of Pareto solution maps for parametric semi-infinite vector optimization problems (PSVO). We establish new necessary conditions for lower and upper semicontinuity of Pareto solution maps under functional perturbations of both objective functions and constraint sets. We also show that the necessary condition becomes sufficient for the lower and upper semicontinuous properties in the special case where the constraint set mapping is lower semicontinuous at the reference point. Examples are given to illustrate the obtained results.     

On robustness in nonconvex optimization with application to defense planning

We estimate the increase in minimum value for a decision that is robust to parameter perturbations as compared to the value of a nominal nonconvex problem. The estimates rely on expressions for subgradients and local Lipschitz moduli of min-value functions and require only the solution of the nominal problem. Across 54 mixed-integer optimization models, the median error in estimating the increase in minimum value is 12%. The results inform analysts about the possibility of obtaining cost-effective, parameter-robust decisions.     

A novel differential evolution algorithm for binary optimization

Differential evolution (DE) is one of the most powerful stochastic search methods which was introduced originally for continuous optimization. In this sense, it is of low efficiency in dealing with discrete problems. In this paper we try to cover this deficiency through introducing a new version of DE algorithm, particularly designed for binary optimization. It is well-known that in its original form, DE maintains a differential mutation, a crossover and a selection operator for optimizing non-linear continuous functions. Therefore, developing the new binary version of DE algorithm, calls for introducing operators having the major characteristics of the original ones and being respondent to the structure of binary optimization problems. Using a measure of dissimilarity between binary vectors, we propose a differential mutation operator that works in continuous space while its consequence is used in the construction of the complete solution in binary space. This approach essentially enables us to utilize the structural knowledge of the problem through heuristic procedures, during the construction of the new solution. To verify effectiveness of our approach, we choose the uncapacitated facility location problem (UFLP)—one of the most frequently encountered binary optimization problems—and solve benchmark suites collected from OR-Library. Extensive computational experiments are carried out to find out the behavior of our algorithm under various setting of the control parameters and also to measure how well it competes with other state of the art binary optimization algorithms. Beside UFLP, we also investigate the suitably of our approach for optimizing numerical functions. We select a number of well-known functions on which we compare the performance of our approach with different binary optimization algorithms. Results testify that our approach is very efficient and can be regarded as a promising method for solving wide class of binary optimization problems.     

A robust algorithm for generalized geometric programming

Most existing methods of global optimization for generalized geometric programming (GGP) actually compute an approximate optimal solution of a linear or convex relaxation of the original problem. However, these approaches may sometimes provide an infeasible solution, or far from the true optimum. To overcome these limitations, a robust solution algorithm is proposed for global optimization of (GGP) problem. This algorithm guarantees adequately to obtain a robust optimal solution, which is feasible and close to the actual optimal solution, and is also stable under small perturbations of the constraints.     

Descent methods with linesearch in the presence of perturbations

We consider the class of descent algorithms for unconstrained optimization with an Armijo-type stepsize rule in the case when the gradient of the objective function is computed inexactly. An important novel feature in our theoretical analysis is that perturbations associated with the gradient are not assumed to be relatively small or to tend to zero in the limit (as a practical matter, we expect them to be reasonably small, so that a meaningful approximate solution can be obtained). This feature makes our analysis applicable to various difficult problems encounted in practice. We propose a modified Armijo-type rule for computing the stepsize which guarantees that the algorithm obtains a reasonable approximate solution. Furthermore, if perturbations are small relative to the size of the gradient, then our algorithm retains all the standard convergence properties of descent methods.