A Framework for Kernel Regularization with Applications to Protein Clustering

We develop and apply a novel framework which is designed to extract information in the form of a positive definite kernel matrix from possibly crude, noisy, incomplete, inconsistent dissimilarity information between pairs of objects, obtainable in a variety of contexts. Any positive definite kernel defines a consistent set of distances, and the fitted kernel provides … Read more

Approximating K-means-type clustering via semidefinite programming

One of the fundamental clustering problems is to assign $n$ points into $k$ clusters based on the minimal sum-of-squares(MSSC), which is known to be NP-hard. In this paper, by using matrix arguments, we first model MSSC as a so-called 0-1 semidefinite programming (SDP). We show that our 0-1 SDP model provides an unified framework for … Read more

A Semidefinite Optimization Approach for the Single-Row Layout Problem with Unequal Dimensions

The facility layout problem is concerned with the arrangement of a given number of rectangular facilities so as to minimize the total cost associated with the (known or projected) interactions between them. We consider the one-dimensional space allocation problem (ODSAP), also known as the single-row facility layout problem, which consists in finding an optimal linear … Read more

Experimental Datasets from Chemical Thermodynamics

I have been working for quite awhile with the treatment of experimental results in chemical thermodynamics. I have tried to organize my archives and make them available for others. There are several experimental datasets in computer readable format and I hope that they can be used as useful benchmarks for data fitting and nonlinear optimization. … Read more

Large-scale semidefinite programs in electronic structure calculation

Employing the variational approach having the two-body reduced density matrix (RDM) as variables to compute the ground state energies of atomic-molecular systems has been a long time dream in electronic structure theory in chemical physics/physical chemistry. Realization of the RDM approach has benefited greatly from recent developments in semidefinite programming (SDP). We present the actual … Read more

On the control of an evolutionary equilibrium in micromagnetics

We formulate an optimal control problem of magnetization in a ferromagnet as a mathematical program with evolutionary equilibrium constraints. The evolutionary nature of the equilibrium is due to the hysteresis behavior of the respective magnetization process. To solve the problem numerically, we adapted the implicit programming technique. The adjoint equations, needed to compute the subgradients … Read more

Analysis of a Belgian Chocolate Stabilization Problem

We give a detailed numerical and theoretical analysis of a stabilization problem posed by V. Blondel in 1994. Our approach illustrates the effectiveness of a new gradient sampling algorithm for finding local optimizers of nonsmooth, nonconvex optimization problems arising in control, as well as the power of nonsmooth analysis for understanding variational problems involving polynomial … Read more

NONLINEAR OPTIMIZATION IN MODELING ENVIRONMENTS: Software Implementations for Compilers, Spreadsheets, Modeling Languages, and Integrated Computing Systems

We present a review of several professional software products that serve to analyze and solve nonlinear (global and local) optimization problems across a variety of hardware and software environments. The product versions discussed have been implemented for compiler platforms, spreadsheets, algebraic (optimization) modeling languages, and for integrated scientific-technical computing systems. The discussion highlights some of … Read more

A Population Based Approach for Hard Global Optimization Problems Based on Dissimilarity Measures

When dealing with extremely hard global optimization problems, i.e. problems with a large number of variables and a huge number of local optima, heuristic procedures are the only possible choice. In this situation, lacking any possibility of guaranteeing global optimality for most problem instances, it is quite difficult to establish rules for discriminating among different … Read more

Optimization of discrete control systems with varying structure

In this paper a special step control problem is considered. The formulation of the problem uses a parameter to control the switching point. By using Taylor’s increment methods first and second order optimality conditions (in the sense of Pontryagin’s maximum principle) will be derived. Citation Preprint 2005-1, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University … Read more