Remark on the well-posedness of the problem of minimization of integral functionals

In this note, we study the well-posedness of the problem of constrained minimization of an integral functional and show that global well-posedness is equivalent to pointwise well-posedness almost everywhere. Our result extends an earlier one by Zolezzi.This research was supported by NSF Grant No. DMS 88-02688.     

Nonconvex separation theorems and some applications in vector optimization

Separation theorems for an arbitrary set and a not necessarily convex set in a linear topological space are proved and applied to vector optimization. Scalarization results for weakly efficient points and properly efficient points are deduced.     

Stochastic algorithms with armijo stepsizes for minimization of functions

Stochastic algorithms for optimization problems, where function evaluations are done by Monte Carlo simulations, are presented. At each iteratex _i, they draw a predetermined numbern(i) of sample points from an underlying probability space; based on these sample points, they compute a feasible-descent direction, an Armijo stepsize, and the next iteratex _i+1. For an appropriate optimality function , corresponding to an optimality condition, it is shown that, ifn(i) , then (x _i) 0, whereJ is a set of integers whose upper density is zero. First, convergence is shown for a general algorithm prototype: then, a steepest-descent algorithm for unconstrained problems and a feasible-direction algorithm for problems with inequality constraints are developed. A numerical example is supplied.     

Indefinite preference structures and decision analysis

It always takes time for people to digest information and make judgments. The decision maker's preference is not always clear and stable when decision analysis and decision making are performed. In this paper, we introduce a generalized preference structure to cope with indefinite preferences. We describe its general properties, its implication on value function representation, its solution concepts, and methods for obtaining the solutions.This research has been partially supported by NSF Grant No. IST-84-18863. The authors are grateful to Dr. D. J. White for his helpful comments on a previous draft.     

Image space approach to penalty methods

In this paper, we introduce a unified framework for the study of penalty concepts by means of the separation functions in the image space (see Ref. 1). Moreover, we establish new results concerning a correspondence between the solutions of the constrained problem and the limit points of the unconstrained minima. Finally, we analyze some known classes of penalty functions and some known classical results about penalization, and we show that they can be derived from our results directly.     

Ab initio Tertiary Structure Prediction of Proteins

A daunting challenge in the area of computational biology has been to develop a method to theoretically predict the correct three-dimensional structure of a protein given its linear amino acid sequence. The ability to surmount this challenge, which is known as the protein folding problem, has tremendous implications. We introduce a novel ab initio approach for the protein folding problem. The accurate prediction of the three-dimensional structure of a protein relies on both the mathematical model used to mimic the protein system and the technique used to identify the correct structure. The models employed are based solely on first principles, as opposed to the myriad of techniques relying on information from statistical databases. The framework integrates our recently proposed methods for the prediction of secondary structural features including helices and strands, as well as -sheet and disulfide bridge formation. The final stage of the approach, which culminates in the tertiary structure prediction of a protein, utilizes search techniques grounded on the foundations of deterministic global optimization, powerful methods which can potentially guarantee the correct identification of a protein's structure. The performance of the approach is illustrated with bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor protein and the immunoglobulin binding domain of protein G.     

Worst Case Traffic from Regulated Sources

We address the problem of finding the worst possible traffic a user of a telecommunications network can send. We take worst to mean having the highest effective bandwidth, a concept that arises in the Large Deviation theory of queueing networks. The traffic is assumed to be stationary and to satisfy leaky bucket constraints, which represent the a priori knowledge the network operator has concerning the traffic. Firstly, we show that this optimization problem may be reduced to an optimization over periodic traffic sources. Then, using convexity methods, we show that the realizations of a worst case source must have the following properties: at each instant the transmission rate must be either zero, the peak rate, or the leaky bucket rate; it may only be the latter when the leaky bucket is empty or full; each burst of activity must either start with the leaky bucket empty or end with it full.     

Domain sensitivity for singular elliptic problems: Harmonic transformation approach

A method for computing the sensitivities of functionals depending on the solutions of elliptic equations defined over variable domains is presented. It is based on the material derivative approach and allows the uniform treatment of both singular and nonsingular cases. The novelty consists in defining the vector field connected with the domain transformation as the solution of an auxiliary elliptic equation. Such a choice does not restrict the range of admissible goal functionals and has many advantages from the numerical point of view. It allows one also to consider singular domain variations.