Optimal endpoints

A complete set of necessary and sufficient conditions for selecting optimal endpoints for extremals obtained from the variational Bolza problem in control notation has been developed. The method used to obtain these conditions is based on a seldom used concept of performing a dichotomy on the general optimization problem. With this concept, the problem of Bolza is decomposed into two problems, the first of which involves the selection of optimal paths with the endpoints considered fixed. The second problem involves the selection of optimal endpoints with the paths between the endpoints taken to be stationary curves. The convenience of the dichotomy in deriving the necessary and sufficient conditions for endpoints lies in its simplicity and elementary character; well-known necessary and sufficient conditions from the theory of ordinary maxima and minima are used.An endpoint necessary condition is first obtained which is simply the well-known transversality condition. An additional condition is then developed which, together with the transversality condition, leads to a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a given extremal to be locally optimal with respect to endpoint variations. While the second condition presented is akin to the classical focal-point condition, the result is new in form and is directly applicable to the optimal control problem. In addition, it is relatively simple to apply and is easy to implement numerically when an analytical solution is not possible. It should be useful in situations where the transversality conditions yield more than one choice for an optimal endpoint.An analytic solution for a simple geodetics problem is presented to illustrate the theory. A discussion of numerical implementation of the sufficiency conditions and its application to an orbit transfer example is also included.This work was supported in part by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Grant No. NGR-03-002-001.     

Transversality condition for infinite-horizon problems

We present necessary conditions of optimality for an infinitehorizon optimal control problem. The transversality condition is derived with the help of stability theory and is formulated in terms of the Lyapunov exponents of solutions to the adjoint equation. A problem without an exponential factor in the integral functional is considered. Necessary and sufficient conditions of optimality are proved for linear quadratic problems with conelike control constraints.     

Optimal Bang-Bang Controls for a Two-Compartment Model in Cancer Chemotherapy

A class of mathematical models for cancer chemotherapy which have been described in the literature take the form of an optimal control problem over a finite horizon with control constraints and dynamics given by a bilinear system. In this paper, we analyze a two-dimensional model in which the cell cycle is broken into two compartments. The cytostatic agent used as control to kill the cancer cells is active only in the second compartment where cell division occurs and the cumulative effect of the drug is used to model the negative effect of the treatment on healthy cells. It is shown that singular controls are not optimal for this model and the optimality properties of bang-bang controls are established. Specifically, transversality conditions at the switching surfaces are derived. In a nondegenerate setting, these conditions guarantee the local optimality of the flow if satisfied, while trajectories will be no longer optimal if they are violated.     

Necessary Conditions for Nonsmooth,Infinite-Horizon,Optimal Control Problems

Necessary conditions are proved for deterministic nonsmooth optimal control problems involving an infinite horizon and terminal conditions at infinity. The necessary conditions include a complete set of transversality conditions.     

ON THE OPTIMAL POLICY FOR COMBINING HARVESTING OF PREDATOR AND PREY

An optimal policy is sought for maximizing present value from the combined harvest of two ecologically dependent species, which would coexist as predator and prey in the absence of harvesting. Harvest rate for each species is assumed proportional to both stock level and effort. For a large class of biological productivity functions, it is established that the optimal equilibrium point in the phase-plane of stock levels must be a saddle-point. For quadratic productivity functions, a combination of analytical reasoning and numerical experiment is used to show that first and second order necessary conditions for optimality are satisfied by a unique approach to equilibrium, which must therefore be optimal. The corresponding control law is given, and an apparent suggestion of two previous authors concerning the policy is shown to be inappropriate. The optimal policy enables an estimate to be made of the true loss of resource value due to a catastrophic fall in stock level.     

A maximum principle for an optimal control problem with integral constraints

In this paper, necessary corditions are obtained for an optimal control problem whose state variables are given in terms of integral equations. The conditions are obtained separately for Volterra equations and Fredholm equations. The main result for each case is the maximum principle and multiplier rule. For the Volterra equations, transversality conditions are obtained.     

Necessity of limiting co-state arcs in Bolza-type infinite horizon problem

We investigate necessary conditions of optimality for the Bolza-type infinite horizon problem with free right end. The optimality is understood in the sense of weakly uniformly overtaking optimal control. No previous knowledge in the asymptotic behaviour of trajectories or adjoint variables is necessary. Following Seierstad’s idea, we obtain the necessary boundary condition at infinity in the form of a transversality condition for the maximum principle. Those transversality conditions may be expressed in the integral form through an Aseev–Kryazhimskii-type formulae for co-state arcs. The connection between these formulae and limiting gradients of pay-off function at infinity is identified; several conditions under which it is possible to explicitly specify the co-state arc through those Aseev–Kryazhimskii-type formulae are found. For infinite horizon problem of Bolza type, an example is given to clarify the use of the Aseev–Kryazhimskii formula as an explicit expression of the co-state arc.     

A model to optimize project resource allocation by construction of a balanced histogram

This paper examines a scheduling method to improve productivity in resource-constrained projects. When resources are nonrenewable the duration of each activity has only one value. Optimal solutions are derived through criticalism of groups of activities using the same resource so as to eliminate interruption times and associated costs. The corresponding resource histogram is balanced and its design is derived by means of a program suitable for personal computer implementation.In the case where resources are renewable, activity durations are resource driven. We introduce a new view of discreetness for activity execution times which enables us to obtain optimal solutions relating to the cost functions of the activities.Finally we account for doubly constrained resources by (a) defining a maximum level of resource utilization and a maximum cost increase per period of usage of renewable resources and (b) considering as acceptable only those optimal solutions which keep total cost increase for the overall project below a tolerable limit.An application example is given using personal computer and commercially available software.     

Nonsmooth maximum principle for infinite-horizon problems

In this paper, we consider a class of infinite-horizon discounted optimal control problems with nonsmooth problem data. A maximum principle in terms of differential inclusions with a Michel type transversality condition is given. It is shown that, when the discount rate is sufficiently large, the problem admits normal multipliers and a strong transversality condition holds. A relationship between dynamic programming and the maximum principle is also given.The author is indebted to Francis Clarke for helpful suggestions and discussions.     

PERSISTENCE AND TRANSVERSALITY OF HOMOCLINIC ORBITS FOR DIFFEOMORPHISMS

A generalized method combining the exponential dichotomy and the theory of trans-versality was used to give conditions for the persistence and transversality of homoclinic orbits under small perturbation for the diffeomorphisms.     

Harvesting of a phytoplankton–zooplankton model

Considering that some phytoplankton and zooplankton are harvested for food, a phytoplankton–zooplankton model with harvesting is proposed and investigated. First, stability conditions of equilibria and existence conditions of a Hopf-bifurcation are established. Our results indicate that over exploitation would result in the extinction of the population and an appropriate harvesting strategy should ensure the sustainability of the population which is in line with reality. Furthermore, the existence of bionomic equilibria and the optimal harvesting policy are discussed. The present value of revenues is maximized by using Pontryagin’s maximum principle subject to the state equations and the control constraints. We discussed the case of optimal equilibrium solution. It is found that the shadow prices remain constant over time in optimal equilibrium when they satisfy the transversality condition. It is established that the zero discounting leads to the maximization of economic revenue and that an infinite discount rate leads to complete dissipation of economic rent. Finally, some numerical simulations are given to illustrate our results.     

Terminality,normality, and transversality conditions

The maximum principle distinguishes between two phases of the optimal control problem. Some of the stated conditions are to be satisfied at points other than endpoints and some conditions are to be satisfied specifically at the endpoints. This paper utilizes the first set of conditions from the maximum principle to reexamine the second set. In the process, a new necessary condition to be satisfied at the endpoints is obtained. This condition is for certain cases easier to apply than the transversality conditions, yields additional information which may be of computational advantage, and lends itself quite naturally to an exposition of abnormal solutions. The relationship of the new condition to the transversality conditions and a discussion on normality are included. Several examples are given to illustrate the results.This research was supported in part by NASA under Grant NGR-03-002-224 and NSF Science Faculty Fellowship. The authors are indebted to Professors G. Leitmann, G. Basile, and E. Cliff for their helpful comments and suggestions.     

Duality in infinite dimensional linear programming

We consider the class of linear programs with infinitely many variables and constraints having the property that every constraint contains at most finitely many variables while every variable appears in at most finitely many constraints. Examples include production planning and equipment replacement over an infinite horizon. We form the natural dual linear programming problem and prove strong duality under a transversality condition that dual prices are asymptotically zero. That is, we show, under this transversality condition, that optimal solutions are attained in both primal and dual problems and their optimal values are equal. The transversality condition, and hence strong duality, is established for an infinite horizon production planning problem.This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ECS-8700836.     

Proportional economic growth under conditions of limited natural resources

The paper is devoted to economic growth models in which the dynamics of production factors satisfy proportionality conditions. One of the main production factors in the problem of optimizing the productivity of natural resources is the current level of resource consumption, which is characterized by a sharp increase in the prices of resources compared with the price of capital. Investments in production factors play the role of control parameters in the model and are used to maintain proportional economic development. To solve the problem, we propose a two-level optimization structure. At the lower level, proportions are adapted to the changing economic environment according to the optimization mechanism of the production level under fixed cost constraints. At the upper level, the problem of optimal control of investments for an aggregate economic growth model is solved by means of the Pontryagin maximum principle. The application of optimal proportional constructions leads to a system of nonlinear differential equations, whose steady states can be considered as equilibrium states of the economy. We prove that the steady state is not stable, and the system tends to collapse (the production level declines to zero) if the initial point does not coincide with the steady state. We study qualitative properties of the trajectories generated by the proportional development dynamics and indicate the regions of production growth and decay. The parameters of the model are identified by econometric methods on the basis of China’s economic data.     

OPTIMAL RECOVERY OF A SHARED RESOURCE STOCK: A DIFFERENTIAL GAME MODEL WITH EFFICIENT MEMORY EQUILIBRIA

We consider an optimal two-country management of depleted transboundary renewable resources. The management problem is modelled as a differential game, in which memory strategies are used. The countries negotiate an agreement among Pareto efficient harvesting programs. They monitor the evolution of the agreement, and they memorize deviations from the agreement in the past. If the agreement is observed by the countries, they continue cooperation. If one of the countries breaches the contract, then both countries continue in a noncooperative management mode for the rest of the game. This noncooperative option is called a threat policy. The credibility of the threats is guaranteed by their equilibrium property. Transfer or side payments are studied as a particular cooperative management program. Transfer payments allow one country to buy out the other from the fishery for the purpose of eliminating the inefficiency caused by the joint access to the resources. It is shown that efficient equilibria can be reached in a class of resource management games, which allow the use of memory strategies. In particular, continuous time transfer payments (e.g., a share of the harvest) should be used instead of a once-and-for-all transfer payment.     

Optimal harvesting policy of an inland fishery resource under incomplete information

A new mathematical model for finding the optimal harvesting policy of an inland fishery resource under incomplete information is proposed in this paper. The model is based on a stochastic control formalism in a regime‐switching environment. The incompleteness of information is due to uncertainties involved in the body growth rate of the fishery resource: a key biological parameter. Finding the most cost‐effective harvesting policy of the fishery resource ultimately reduces to solving a terminal and boundary value problem of a Hamilton‐Jacobi‐Bellman equation: a nonlinear and degenerate parabolic partial differential equation. A simple finite difference scheme for solving the equation is then presented, which turns out to be convergent and generates numerical solutions that comply with certain theoretical upper and lower bounds. The model is finally applied to the management of Plecoglossus altivelis, a major inland fishery resource in Japan. The regime switching in this case is due to the temporal dynamics of benthic algae, the main food of the fish. Model parameter values are identified from field measurement results in 2017. Our computational results clearly show the dependence of the optimal harvesting policy on the river environmental and biological conditions. The proposed model would serve as a mathematical tool for fishery resource management under uncertainties.     

Maximum principle in the problem of time optimal response with nonsmooth constraints : PMM vol. 40, n 6, 1976, pp. 1014–1023

The problem of optimal response [1, 2] with nonsmooth (generally speaking, nonfunctional) constraints imposed on the state variables is considered. This problem is used to illustrate the method of proving the necessary conditions of optimality in the problems of optimal control with phase constraints, based on constructive approximation of the initial problem with constraints by a sequence of problems of optimal control with constraint-free state variables. The variational analysis of the approximating problems is carried out by means of a purely algebraic method involving the formulas for the incremental growth of a functional [3, 4] and the theorems of separability of convex sets is not used.Using a passage to the limit, the convergence of the approximating problems to the initial problem with constraints is proved, and for general assumptions the necessary conditions of optimality resembling the Pontriagin maximum principle [1] are derived for the generalized solutions of the initial problem. The conditions of transversality are expressed, in the case of nonsmooth (nonfunctional) constraints by a novel concept of a cone conjugate to an arbitrary closed set of a finite-dimensional space. The concept generalizes the usual notions of the normal and the normal cone for the cases of smooth and convex manifolds.     

Properties of multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problems with resource vacations and activity splitting

This paper presents results from an extensive computational study of the multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem when activities can be split during scheduling under situations where resources may be temporarily not available. All resources considered are renewable and each resource unit may not be available at all times due to resource vacations, which are known in advance, and assignment to other finite duration activities. A designed experiment is conducted that investigates project makespan improvement when activity splitting is permitted in various project scenarios, where different project scenarios are defined by parameters that have been used in the research literature. A branch-and-bound procedure is applied to solve a number of small project scheduling problems with and without activity splitting. The results show that, in the presence of resource vacations and temporary resource unavailability, activity splitting can significantly improve the optimal project makespan in many scenarios, and that the makespan improvement is primarily dependent on those parameters that impact resource utilization.     

A nonlinear stochastic growth model on discrete time domains

In this paper, we introduce nonlinear stochastic dynamic problems on discrete time domains where events may occur at unevenly spaced time points. We define Euler equation and transversality condition for the problem. We prove that the Euler equation and the transversality condition are sufficient for the existence of the optimal solution. Next we generalize discrete time Cagan type rational expectation model to multivariate case. As an application of the main results, we obtain an explicit solution to a log-linearized nonlinear stochastic growth model.     

OPTIMAL DEPLETION WHEN DEVELOPMENT MAKES AN UNUSED RESOURCE STOCK MORE VALUABLE

Some developing countries are rapidly exploiting their natural resource bases to increase incomes and achieve development goals. When increased incomes eventuate, stocks of certain resources currently being depleted (e.g. rainforest, city parkland) may attain enhanced future values. This is so if demands for the utilization of amenity services based on these stocks increase with development—if amenities are a luxury good. This paper analyzes the tradeoff between development and conservation goals in a model determining optimal savings and depletion time paths.