Uniform saturation in linear inequality systems

Redundant constraints in linear inequality systems can be characterized as those inequalities that can be removed from an arbitrary linear optimization problem posed on its solution set without modifying its value and its optimal set. A constraint is saturated in a given linear optimization problem when it is binding at the optimal set. Saturation is a property related with the preservation of the value and the optimal set under the elimination of the given constraint, phenomena which can be seen as weaker forms of excess information in linear optimization problems. We say that an inequality of a given linear inequality system is uniformly saturated when it is saturated for any solvable linear optimization problem posed on its solution set. This paper characterizes the uniform saturated inequalities and other related classes of inequalities. This work was supported by the MCYT of Spain and FEDER of UE, Grant BFM2002-04114-C02-01.     

Application of the Cross-Entropy Method to the Buffer Allocation Problem in a Simulation-Based Environment

The buffer allocation problem (BAP) is a well-known difficult problem in the design of production lines. We present a stochastic algorithm for solving the BAP, based on the cross-entropy method, a new paradigm for stochastic optimization. The algorithm involves the following iterative steps: (a) the generation of buffer allocations according to a certain random mechanism, followed by (b) the modification of this mechanism on the basis of cross-entropy minimization. Through various numerical experiments we demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm and show that the method can quickly generate (near-)optimal buffer allocations for fairly large production lines.     

Staffing decisions for heterogeneous workers with turnover

In this paper we consider a firm that employs heterogeneous workers to meet demand for its product or service. Workers differ in their skills, speed, and/or quality, and they randomly leave, or turn over. Each period the firm must decide how many workers of each type to hire or fire in order to meet randomly changing demand forecasts at minimal expense. When the number of workers of each type can by continuously varied, the operational cost is jointly convex in the number of workers of each type, hiring and firing costs are linear, and a random fraction of workers of each type leave in each period, the optimal policy has a simple hire- up-to/fire-down-to structure. However, under the more realistic assumption that the number of workers of each type is discrete, the optimal policy is much more difficult to characterize, and depends on the particular notion of discrete convexity used for the cost function. We explore several different notions of discrete convexity and their impact on structural results for the optimal policy.     

基于模拟退火的CRS算法

本文是对非线性规划问题提出的一种算法,该算法把模拟退火算法应用到CRS算法中,根据模拟退火算法每一次迭代都体现集中和扩散两个策略的平衡的特点,使CRS算法更能够搜索到全局最优解,而不会陷入局部最优解。最后把提出的算法应用到两个典型的函数优化问题中,结果表明,算法是可行的、有效的     

Quantum-inspired space search algorithm (QSSA) for global numerical optimization

This work presents the evolutionary quantum-inspired space search algorithm (QSSA) for solving numerical optimization problems. In the proposed algorithm, the feasible solution space is decomposed into regions in terms of quantum representation. As the search progresses from one generation to the next, the quantum bits evolve gradually to increase the probability of selecting the regions that render good fitness values. Through the inherent probabilistic mechanism, the QSSA initially behaves as a global search algorithm and gradually evolves into a local search algorithm, yielding a good balance between exploration and exploitation. To prevent a premature convergence and to speed up the overall search speed, an overlapping strategy is also proposed. The QSSA is applied to a series of numerical optimization problems. The experiments show that the results obtained by the QSSA are quite competitive compared to those obtained using state-of-the-art IPOP-CMA-ES and QEA.     

A two-objective mathematical model without cutting patterns for one-dimensional assortment problems

This paper considers a one-dimensional cutting stock and assortment problem. One of the main difficulties in formulating and solving these kinds of problems is the use of the set of cutting patterns as a parameter set in the mathematical model. Since the total number of cutting patterns to be generated may be very huge, both the generation and the use of such a set lead to computational difficulties in solution process. The purpose of this paper is therefore to develop a mathematical model without the use of cutting patterns as model parameters. We propose a new, two-objective linear integer programming model in the form of simultaneous minimization of two contradicting objectives related to the total trim loss amount and the total number of different lengths of stock rolls to be maintained as inventory, in order to fulfill a given set of cutting orders. The model does not require pre-specification of cutting patterns. We suggest a special heuristic algorithm for solving the presented model. The superiority of both the mathematical model and the solution approach is demonstrated on test problems.     

The impact of stochastic lead time reduction on inventory cost under order crossover

We use exponential lead times to demonstrate that reducing mean lead time has a secondary reduction of the variance due to order crossover. The net effect is that of reducing the inventory cost, and if the reduction in inventory cost overrides the investment in lead time reduction, then the lead time reduction strategy would be tenable.We define lead time reduction as the process of decreasing lead time at an increased cost. To date, decreasing lead times has been confined to deterministic instances. We examine the case where lead times are exponential, for when lead times are stochastic, deliveries are subject to order crossover, so that we must consider effective lead times rather than the actual lead times. The result is that the variance of these lead times is less than the variance of the original replenishment lead times.Here we present a two-stage procedure for reducing the mean and variance for exponentially distributed lead times. We assume that the lead time is made of one or several components and is the time between when the need of a replenishment order is determined to the time of receipt.     

A Quasi-Newton Quadratic Penalty Method for Minimization Subject to Nonlinear Equality Constraints

We present a modified quadratic penalty function method for equality constrained optimization problems. The pivotal feature of our algorithm is that at every iterate we invoke a special change of variables to improve the ability of the algorithm to follow the constraint level sets. This change of variables gives rise to a suitable block diagonal approximation to the Hessian which is then used to construct a quasi-Newton method. We show that the complete algorithm is globally convergent. Preliminary computational results are reported.     

Theoretical Efficiency of an Inexact Newton Method

We propose a local algorithm for smooth unconstrained optimization problems with n variables. The algorithm is the optimal combination of an exact Newton step with Choleski factorization and several inexact Newton steps with preconditioned conjugate gradient subiterations. The preconditioner is taken as the inverse of the Choleski factorization in the previous exact Newton step. While the Newton method is converging precisely with Q-order 2, this algorithm is also precisely converging with Q-order 2. Theoretically, its average number of arithmetic operations per step is much less than the corresponding number of the Newton method for middle-scale and large-scale problems. For instance, when n=200, the ratio of these two numbers is less than 0.53. Furthermore, the ratio tends to zero approximately at a rate of log 2/logn when n approaches infinity.