A greedy algorithm for the two-level nested logit model

We consider the assortment optimization problem under the classical two-level nested logit model. We establish a necessary and sufficient condition for the optimal assortment and develop a simple and fast greedy algorithm that iteratively removes at most one product from each nest to compute an optimal solution.     

Assortment optimization with repeated exposures and product-dependent patience cost

In this paper, we study the assortment optimization problem faced by many online retailers such as Amazon. We develop a cascade multinomial logit model, based on the classic multinomial logit model, to capture the consumers' purchasing behavior across multiple stages. Unlike most of existing studies, our model allows for repeated exposures of a product. In addition, each consumer has a patience budget that is sampled from a known distribution and each product is associated with a patience cost, which is the required amount of the cognitive efforts on browsing that product. We propose an approximation solution to the assortment optimization problem under cascade multinomial logit model.     

基于Logit离散选择模型的品类优化问题综述

品类优化问题(Assortment Optimization Problem)是收益管理的经典问题.它研究零售商在满足运营约束的前提下,应如何从给定产品集合中选择一个子集提供给消费者,以最大化预期收益.该问题的核心在于如何准确地刻画消费者在面对细分产品时的选择行为、建立相应的优化模型并设计高效率的求解算法.基于Logit离散选择模型的品类优化问题:首先,介绍了基于Multinomial Logit模型的品类优化问题.然后介绍了两个更复杂的变种:第一个是基于两层以及多层Nested Logit模型的品类优化问题,这类问题可合理刻画细分产品之间的"替代效应";第二个是基于Mixtures of Multinomial Logits模型的品类优化问题,这类问题可充分考虑消费者群体的异质性.随后,介绍了数据驱动的品类优化问题的相关进展.最后,指出该问题未来可能的若干研究方向.     

Robust assortment optimization using worst-case CVaR under the multinomial logit model

We consider robust assortment optimization problems with partial distributional information of parameters in the multinomial logit choice model. The objective is to find an assortment that maximizes a revenue target using a distributionally robust chance constraint, which can be approximated by the worst-case Conditional Value-at-Risk. We show that our problems are equivalent to robust assortment optimization problems over special uncertainty sets of parameters, implying the optimality of revenue-ordered assortments under certain conditions.     

A PTAS for capacitated sum-of-ratios optimization

Motivated by an application in assortment planning under the nested logit choice model, we develop a polynomial-time approximation scheme for the sum-of-ratios optimization problem with a capacity constraint and a fixed number of product groups.     

服务水平约束下双需求类静态配给策略

考虑一个周期盘点、无限期、缺货回补、双需求类的库存系统,其中高优先级需求的目标服务水平较高。系统采用基准库存策略补充库存,依据静态配给策略分配库存,即优先满足高优先级需求,仅当持有库存水平不低于固定配给阈值时满足低优先级需求。优化目标是在服务水平约束下最小化期望库存持有量。为提升计算效率,引入“预留库存假设”,即允许通过提高低优先级需求缺货水平的方式补充库存,使得期末持有库存水平不低于本期高优先级需求缺货水平与固定配给阈值之和。基于预留库存假设,给出两类需求服务水平和期望库存持有量的解析表达式,证明上述绩效指标关于控制参数的单调性,刻画满足服务水平约束的控制参数可行域,得到原系统最优控制参数的近似求解算法。算例分析表明,基于预留库存假设的绩效衡量方法和参数求解算法准确性好且计算效率高。     

Approximate solution of the trust region problem by minimization over two-dimensional subspaces

The trust region problem, minimization of a quadratic function subject to a spherical trust region constraint, occurs in many optimization algorithms. In a previous paper, the authors introduced an inexpensive approximate solution technique for this problem that involves the solution of a two-dimensional trust region problem. They showed that using this approximation in an unconstrained optimization algorithm leads to the same theoretical global and local convergence properties as are obtained using the exact solution to the trust region problem. This paper reports computational results showing that the two-dimensional minimization approach gives nearly optimal reductions in then-dimension quadratic model over a wide range of test cases. We also show that there is very little difference, in efficiency and reliability, between using the approximate or exact trust region step in solving standard test problems for unconstrained optimization. These results may encourage the application of similar approximate trust region techniques in other contexts.Research supported by ARO contract DAAG 29-84-K-0140, NSF grant DCR-8403483, and NSF cooperative agreement DCR-8420944.     

SAA-regularized methods for multiproduct price optimization under the pure characteristics demand model

Utility-based choice models are often used to determine a consumer’s purchase decision among a list of available products; to provide an estimate of product demands; and, when data on purchase decisions or market shares are available, to infer consumers’ preferences over observed product characteristics. These models also serve as a building block in modeling firms’ pricing and assortment optimization problems. We consider a firm’s multiproduct pricing problem, in which product demands are determined by a pure characteristics model. A sample average approximation (SAA) method is used to approximate the expected market share of products and the firm profit. We propose an SAA-regularized method for the multiproduct price optimization problem. We present convergence analysis and numerical examples to show the efficiency and the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

A new method for interpolating in a convex subset of a Hilbert space

In this paper, interpolating curve or surface with linear inequality constraints is considered as a general convex optimization problem in a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space. The aim of the present paper is to propose an approximation method in a very general framework based on a discretized optimization problem in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space under the same set of constraints. We prove that the approximate solution converges uniformly to the optimal constrained interpolating function. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate this result in the case of boundedness and monotonicity constraints in one and two dimensions.     

Semicontinuity and convergence for vector optimization problems with approximate equilibrium constraints

This paper mainly intends to present some semicontinuity and convergence results for perturbed vector optimization problems with approximate equilibrium constraints. We establish the lower semicontinuity of the efficient solution mapping for the vector optimization problem with perturbations of both the objective function and the constraint set. The constraint set is the set of approximate weak efficient solutions of the vector equilibrium problem. Moreover, upper Painlevé–Kuratowski convergence results of the weak efficient solution mapping are showed. Finally, some applications to the optimization problems with approximate vector variational inequality constraints and the traffic network equilibrium problems are also given. Our main results are different from the ones in the literature.     

A Constraint Programming Framework for Local Search Methods

We propose in this paper a novel integration of local search algorithms within a constraint programming framework for combinatorial optimization problems, in an attempt to gain both the efficiency of local search methods and the flexibility of constraint programming while maintaining a clear separation between the constraints of the problem and the actual search procedure. Each neighborhood exploration is performed by branch-and-bound search, whose potential pruning capabilities open the door to more elaborate local moves, which could lead to even better approximate results. Two illustrations of this framework are provided, including computational results for the traveling salesman problem with time windows. These results indicate that it is one order of magnitude faster than the customary constraint programming approach to local search and that it is competitive with a specialized local search algorithm.     

A New Self-Dual Embedding Method for Convex Programming

In this paper we introduce a conic optimization formulation to solve constrained convex programming, and propose a self-dual embedding model for solving the resulting conic optimization problem. The primal and dual cones in this formulation are characterized by the original constraint functions and their corresponding conjugate functions respectively. Hence they are completely symmetric. This allows for a standard primal-dual path following approach for solving the embedded problem. Moreover, there are two immediate logarithmic barrier functions for the primal and dual cones. We show that these two logarithmic barrier functions are conjugate to each other. The explicit form of the conjugate functions are in fact not required to be known in the algorithm. An advantage of the new approach is that there is no need to assume an initial feasible solution to start with. To guarantee the polynomiality of the path-following procedure, we may apply the self-concordant barrier theory of Nesterov and Nemirovski. For this purpose, as one application, we prove that the barrier functions constructed this way are indeed self-concordant when the original constraint functions are convex and quadratic. We pose as an open question to find general conditions under which the constructed barrier functions are self-concordant.     

A Perturbation approach for an inverse quadratic programming problem

We consider an inverse quadratic programming (QP) problem in which the parameters in both the objective function and the constraint set of a given QP problem need to be adjusted as little as possible so that a known feasible solution becomes the optimal one. We formulate this problem as a linear complementarity constrained minimization problem with a positive semidefinite cone constraint. With the help of duality theory, we reformulate this problem as a linear complementarity constrained semismoothly differentiable (SC¹) optimization problem with fewer variables than the original one. We propose a perturbation approach to solve the reformulated problem and demonstrate its global convergence. An inexact Newton method is constructed to solve the perturbed problem and its global convergence and local quadratic convergence rate are shown. As the objective function of the problem is a SC¹ function involving the projection operator onto the cone of positively semi-definite symmetric matrices, the analysis requires an implicit function theorem for semismooth functions as well as properties of the projection operator in the symmetric-matrix space. Since an approximate proximal point is required in the inexact Newton method, we also give a Newton method to obtain it. Finally we report our numerical results showing that the proposed approach is quite effective.     

Relaxed robust second-order-cone programming

In this paper, we propose an approximate optimization model for the robust second-order-cone programming problem with a single-ellipsoid uncertainty set for which the computational complexity is not known yet. We prove that this approximate robust model can be equivalently reformulated as a finite convex optimization problem.     

不等式约束优化问题的低阶精确罚函数的光滑化算法

对不等式约束优化问题提出了一个低阶精确罚函数的光滑化算法. 首先给出了光滑罚问题、非光滑罚问题及原问题的目标函数值之间的误差估计,进而在弱的假
设之下证明了光滑罚问题的全局最优解是原问题的近似全局最优解. 最后给出了一个基于光滑罚函数的求解原问题的算法,证明了算法的收敛性,并给出数值算例说明算法的可行性.     

A control type method for solving the Cauchy–Stokes problem

In this work, we propose an approximate optimal control formulation of the Cauchy problem for the Stokes system. Here the problem is converted into an optimization one. In order to handle the instability of the solution of this ill-posed problem, a regularization technique is developed. We add a term in the least square function which happens to vanish while the algorithm converges. The efficiency of the proposed method is illustrated by numerical experiments.     

Positive definite matrix approximation with condition number constraint

Positive definite matrix approximation with a condition number constraint is an optimization problem to find the nearest positive definite matrix whose condition number is smaller than a given constant. We demonstrate that this problem can be converted to a simpler one when we use a unitary similarity invariant norm as a metric. We can especially convert it to a univariate piecewise convex optimization problem when we use the Ky Fan p-k norm. We also present an analytical solution to the problem whose metric is the spectral norm and the trace norm.     

Computational Discretization Algorithms for Functional Inequality Constrained Optimization

In this paper, a functional inequality constrained optimization problem is studied using a discretization method and an adaptive scheme. The problem is discretized by partitioning the interval of the independent parameter. Two methods are investigated as to how to treat the discretized optimization problem. The discretization problem is firstly converted into an optimization problem with a single nonsmooth equality constraint. Since the obtained equality constraint is nonsmooth and does not satisfy the usual constraint qualification condition, relaxation and smoothing techniques are used to approximate the equality constraint via a smooth inequality constraint. This leads to a sequence of approximate smooth optimization problems with one constraint. An adaptive scheme is incorporated into the method to facilitate the computation of the sum in the inequality constraint. The second method is to apply an adaptive scheme directly to the discretization problem. Thus a sequence of optimization problems with a small number of inequality constraints are obtained. Convergence analysis for both methods is established. Numerical examples show that each of the two proposed methods has its own advantages and disadvantages over the other.     

Generalized Surrogate Problem Methodology for Online Stochastic Discrete Optimization

We consider stochastic discrete optimization problems where the decision variables are nonnegative integers and propose a generalized surrogate problem methodology that modifies and extends previous work in Ref. 1. Our approach is based on an online control scheme which transforms the problem into a surrogate continuous optimization problem and proceeds to solve the latter using standard gradient-based approaches while simultaneously updating both the actual and surrogate system states. In contrast to Ref. 1, the proposed methodology applies to arbitrary constraint sets. It is shown that, under certain conditions, the solution of the original problem is recovered from the optimal surrogate state. Applications of this approach include solutions to multicommodity resource allocation problems; in these problems, exploiting the convergence speed of the method, one can overcome the obstacle posed by the presence of local optima.     

A Semi-Infinite Programming Model In Data Envelopment Analysis

We consider a model for data envelopment analysis with infinitely many decision-making units. The determination of the relative efficiency of a given decision-making unit amounts to the solution of a semi-infinite optimization problem. We show that a decision-making unit of maximal relative efficiency exists and that it is 100% efficient. Moreover, this decision-making unit can be found by calculating a zero of the semi-infinite constraint function. For the latter task we propose a bi-level algorithm. We apply this algorithm to a problem from chemical engineering and present numerical results