Column Generation based Alternating Direction Methods for solving MINLPs

Traditional decomposition based branch-and-bound algorithms, like branch-and-price, can be very efficient if the duality gap is not too large. However, if this is not the case, the branch-and-bound tree may grow rapidly, preventing the method to find a good solution. In this paper, we present a new decompositon algorithm, called ADGO (Alternating Direction Global Optimization … Read more

A Deterministic Fully Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme For Counting Integer Knapsack Solutions Made Easy

Given $n$ elements with nonnegative integer weights $w=(w_1,\ldots,w_n)$, an integer capacity $C$ and positive integer ranges $u=(u_1,\ldots,u_n)$, we consider the counting version of the classic integer knapsack problem: find the number of distinct multisets whose weights add up to at most $C$. We give a deterministic algorithm that estimates the number of solutions to within … Read more

Backward Step Control for Global Newton-type Methods

We present and analyze a new damping approach called backward step control for the globalization of the convergence of Newton-type methods for the numerical solution of nonlinear root-finding problems. We provide and discuss reasonable assumptions that imply convergence of backward step control on the basis of generalized Newton paths in conjunction with a backward analysis … Read more

New Douglas-Rachford algorithmic structures and their convergence analyses

In this paper we study new algorithmic structures with Douglas- Rachford (DR) operators to solve convex feasibility problems. We propose to embed the basic two-set-DR algorithmic operator into the String-Averaging Projections (SAP) and into the Block-Iterative Pro- jection (BIP) algorithmic structures, thereby creating new DR algo- rithmic schemes that include the recently proposed cyclic Douglas- … Read more

Visualizing data as objects by DC (difference of convex) optimization

In this paper we address the problem of visualizing in a bounded region a set of individuals, which has attached a dissimilarity measure and a statistical value. This problem, which extends the standard Multidimensional Scaling Analysis, is written as a global optimization problem whose objective is the difference of two convex functions (DC). Suitable DC … Read more

A Multi-Objective approach to visualize proportions and similarities between individuals by rectangular maps

In this paper we address the problem of visualizing the proportions and the similarities attached to a set of individuals. We represent this information using a rectangular map, i.e., a subdivision of a rectangle into rectangular portions so that each portion is associated with one individual, their areas reflect the proportions, and the closeness between … Read more