Branching and bounds tightening techniques for non-convex MINLP

Many industrial problems can be naturally formulated using Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP). Motivated by the demand for Open-Source solvers for real-world MINLP problems, we have developed a spatial Branch-and-Bound software package named COUENNE (Convex Over- and Under-ENvelopes for Nonlinear Estimation). In this paper, we present the structure of couenne and discuss in detail our … Read more

On the String Averaging Method for Sparse Common Fixed Points Problems

We study the common fixed points problem for the class of directed operators. This class is important because many commonly used nonlinear operators in convex optimization belong to it. We propose a definition of sparseness of a family of operators and investigate a string-averaging algorithmic scheme that favorably handles the common fixed points problem when … Read more

The N – k Problem in Power Grids: New Models, Formulations and Computation

Given a power grid modeled by a network together with equations describing the power flows, power generation and consumption, and the laws of physics, the so-called N – k problem asks whether there exists a set of k or fewer arcs whose removal will cause the system to fail. We present theoretical results and computation … Read more