Approximations in proximal bundle methods and decomposition of convex programs

A proximal bundle method is presented for minimizing a nonsmooth convex functionf. At each iteration, it requires only one approximate evaluation off and its -subgradient, and it finds a search direction via quadratic programming. When applied to the Lagrangian decomposition of convex programs, it allows for inexact solutions of decomposed subproblems; yet, increasing their required accuracy automatically, it asymptotically finds both the primal and dual solutions. It is an implementable approximate version of the proximal point algorithm. Some encouraging numerical experience is reported.The author thanks two anonymous referees for their valuable comments.Research supported by the State Committee for Scientific Research under Grant 8550502206.     

A Farkas lemma for difference sublinear systems and quasidifferentiable programming

A new generalized Farkas theorem of the alternative is presented for systems involving functions which can be expressed as the difference of sublinear functions. Various other forms of theorems of the alternative are also given using quasidifferential calculus. Comprehensive optimality conditions are then developed for broad classes of infinite dimensional quasidifferentiable programming problems. Applications to difference convex programming and infinitely constrained concave minimization problems are also discussed.     

Branch-and-bound decomposition approach for solving quasiconvex-concave programs

A class of branch-and-bound methods is proposed for minimizing a quasiconvex-concave function subject to convex and quasiconvex-concave inequality constraints. Several important special cases where the subproblems involved by the bounding-and-branching operations can be solved quite effectively include certain d.c. programming problems, indefinite quadratic programming with one negative eigenvalue, affine multiplicative problems, and fractional multiplicative optimization.This research was accomplished while the second author was a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the University of Trier, Trier, Germany.     

Branch-and-reduce algorithm for convex programs with additional multiplicative constraints

This article presents a branch-and-reduce algorithm for globally solving for the first time a convex minimization problem (P) with p?1$p?1$ additional multiplicative constraints. In each of these p   additional constraints, the product of two convex functions is constrained to be less than or equal to a positive number. The algorithm works by globally solving a 2p$2p$-dimensional master problem (MP) equivalent to problem (P). During a typical stage k of the algorithm, a point is found that minimizes the objective function of problem (MP) over a nonconvex set F^k$F^k$ that contains the portion of the boundary of the feasible region of the problem where a global optimal solution lies. If this point is feasible in problem (MP), the algorithm terminates. Otherwise, the algorithm continues by branching and creating a new, reduced nonconvex set F^k+1$F^{k+1}$ that is a strict subset of F^k$F^k$. To implement the algorithm, all that is required is the ability to solve standard convex programming problems and to implement simple algebraic steps. Convergence properties of the algorithm are given, and results of some computational experiments are reported.     

Duality for quasi-concave programs with explicit constraints

The idea of duality is now well established in the theory of concave programming. The basis of this duality is the concave conjugate transform. This has been exemplified in the development of generalised geometric programming. Much of the current research in duality theory is focused on relaxing the requirement of concavity. Here we develop a duality theory for mathematical programs with a quasi concave objective function and explicit quasi concave constraints. Generalisations of the concave conjugate transform are introduced which pair quasi concave functions as the concave conjugate transform does for concave functions. Optimality conditions are derived relating the primal quasi concave program to its dual. This duality theory was motivated by and has implications in certain problems of mathematical economics. An application to economics is given.     

A maximization method for a class of quasiconcave programs

An implementable linearized method of centers is presented for solving a class of quasiconcave programs of the form (P): maximizef ⁰(x), subject tox B andf ⁱ (x)0, for everyi{1, ...,m}, whereB is a convex polyhedral subset ofR ⁿ (Euclideann-space). Each problem function is a continuous quasiconcave function fromR ⁿ intoR ¹. Also, it is assumed that the feasible region is bounded and there existsx B such thatf _i (x) for everyi {1, ...,m}. For a broad class of continuous quasiconcave problem functions, which may be nonsmooth, it is shown that the method produces a sequence of feasible points whose limit points are optimal for Problem (P). For many programs, no line searches are required. Additionally, the method is equipped with a constraint dropping devise.The author wishes to thank a referee for suggesting the use of generalized gradients and a second referee whose detailed informative comments have enhanced the paper.This work was done while the author was in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Delaware.     

E-Convex Sets, E-Convex Functions, and E-Convex Programming

A class of sets and a class of functions called E-convex sets and E-convex functions are introduced by relaxing the definitions of convex sets and convex functions. This kind of generalized convexity is based on the effect of an operator E on the sets and domain of definition of the functions. The optimality results for E-convex programming problems are established.     

关于E-凸函数和E-凸规划的错误结论

最近Youness在文[1]建立了一类E-凸函数和一类E-凸规划,并分析和给出了他们的主要性质。本文通过6个反例说明文[1]关于E-凸函数和E-凸规划的大部分结论是错误的。     

An interior-point method for multifractional programs with convex constraints

We present an interior-point method for a family of multi-fractional programs with convex constraints. The programs under consideration consist of minimizing the maximum of a finite number of linear fractions over some convex set. First, we present a simple shortstep algorithm for solving such multifractional programs, and we show that, under suitable assumptions, the convergence of the short-step algorithm is weakly polynomial in a sense specified below. Then, we describe a practical implementation of the proposed method, and we report results of numerical experiments with this algorithm. These results suggest that the proposed method is a viable alternative to the standard Dinkelbach-type algorithms for solving multifractional programs.The authors would like to thank Professor A. S. Nemirovsky for stimulating discussions via electronic mail. We are grateful to two anonymous referees for comments and suggestions that improved our paper.     

A global optimization algorithm for linear fractional and bilinear programs

In this paper a deterministic method is proposed for the global optimization of mathematical programs that involve the sum of linear fractional and/or bilinear terms. Linear and nonlinear convex estimator functions are developed for the linear fractional and bilinear terms. Conditions under which these functions are nonredundant are established. It is shown that additional estimators can be obtained through projections of the feasible region that can also be incorporated in a convex nonlinear underestimator problem for predicting lower bounds for the global optimum. The proposed algorithm consists of a spatial branch and bound search for which several branching rules are discussed. Illustrative examples and computational results are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

An exterior point method for the convex programming problem

This paper gives a proof of convergence of an iterative method for maximizing a concave function subject to inequality constraints involving convex functions. The linear programming problem is an important special case. The primary feature is that each iteration is very simple computationally, involving only one of the constraints. Although the paper is theoretical in nature, some numerical results are included.The author wishes to express his gratitude to Ms. A. Dunham, who provided a great deal of assistance in carrying out the computations presented in this paper.     

A Proximal Bundle Method Based on Approximate Subgradients

In this paper a proximal bundle method is introduced that is capable to deal with approximate subgradients. No further knowledge of the approximation quality (like explicit knowledge or controllability of error bounds) is required for proving convergence. It is shown that every accumulation point of the sequence of iterates generated by the proposed algorithm is a well-defined approximate solution of the exact minimization problem. In the case of exact subgradients the algorithm behaves like well-established proximal bundle methods. Numerical tests emphasize the theoretical findings.     

Simplicially-Constrained DC Optimization over Efficient and Weakly Efficient Sets

We formulate optimization problems over efficient and weakly efficient sets as DC problems over a simplex in the criteria space. This formulation allows developing a decomposition algorithm using an adaptive simplex subdivision and a convex envelope function for solving both problems. Randomly generated problems up to the size of 150 decision variables and 7 criteria are solved.     

Solving nonlinear integer programs with large-scale optimization software

This paper describes recent experience in tackling large nonlinear integer programming problems using the MINOS large-scale optimization software. A technique is presented for extending the constrained search approach used in MINOS to exploring integer-feasible solutions once a continuous optimal solution is obtained. Computational experience with this approach is described for two classes of problems: quadratic assignment problems and pipeline network design problems.     

Solving nonlinear integer programs with large-scale optimization software

This paper describes recent experience in tackling large nonlinear integer programming problems using the MINOS large-scale optimization software. A technique is presented for extending the constrained search approach used in MINOS to exploring integer-feasible solutions once a continuous optimal solution is obtained. Computational experience with this approach is described for two classes of problems: quadratic assignment problems and pipeline network design problems.     

Characterizations of solution sets of mathematical programs in terms of Lagrange multipliers

The main aim of this article is to obtain characterizations of the solution set of two non-linear programs in terms of Lagrange multipliers. Both the programs have pseudolinear constraints but the objective function is convex for the first program and pseudolinear for the second program, where all the functions are defined in terms of bifunctions.     

Toland-singer formula cannot distinguish a global minimizer from a choice of stationary points *

Necessary and sufficient optimality conditions are developed for specific classes of constrained and unconstrained global optimization problems. In particular conditions are developed applicable to the unconstrained minimization of the difference and quotient of convex functions for specific special cases. The conditions are developed using the concept of an excess function. Duality results are also presented.     

两个凸多面体的差及几种次微分之间的关系

给出两种两个凸多面体差的表达式,利用这些表达式,可以具体计算这两种凸多面体的差,做为应用讨论了利用拟微分计算Penot微分和Clarke广义梯度,特别讨论了一类非光滑函数,极大值函数的光滑复合。     

Sensitivity analysis based heuristic algorithms for mathematical programs with variational inequality constraints

In this paper we consider heuristic algorithms for a special case of the generalized bilevel mathematical programming problem in which one of the levels is represented as a variational inequality problem. Such problems arise in network design and economic planning. We obtain derivative information needed to implement these algorithms for such bilevel problems from the theory of sensitivity analysis for variational inequalities. We provide computational results for several numerical examples.