Shape-Constrained Regression using Sum of Squares Polynomials

We consider the problem of fitting a polynomial function to a set of data points, each data point consisting of a feature vector and a response variable. In contrast to standard polynomial regression, we require that the polynomial regressor satisfy shape constraints, such as monotonicity, Lipschitz-continuity, or convexity. We show how to use semidefinite programming … Read more

On monotonicity and search traversal in copositivity detection algorithms

Matrix copositivity has an important theoretical background. Over the last decades, the use of algorithms to check copositivity has made a big progress. Methods are based on spatial branch and bound, transformation to Mixed Integer Programming, implicit enumeration of KKT points or face-based search. Our research question focuses on exploiting the mathematical properties of the … Read more

A numerical study of transformed mixed-integer optimal control problems

Time transformation is a ubiquitous tool in theoretical sciences, especially in physics. It can also be used to transform switched optimal con trol problems into control problems with a fixed switching order and purely continuous decisions. This approach is known either as enhanced time transformation, time-scaling, or switching time optimization (STO) for mixed-integer optimal control. … Read more

Continuous Cubic Formulations for Cluster Detection Problems in Networks

The celebrated Motzkin-Straus formulation for the maximum clique problem provides a nontrivial characterization of the clique number of a graph in terms of the maximum value of a nonconvex quadratic function over a standard simplex. It was originally developed as a way of proving Tur\'{a}n’s theorem in graph theory, but was later used to develop … Read more

The Magic of Nash Social Welfare in Optimization: Do Not Sum, Just Multiply!

In this paper, we explain some key challenges when dealing with a single/multi-objective optimization problem in practice. To overcome these challenges, we present a mathematical program that optimizes a Nash Social Welfare function. We refer to this mathematical program as the Nash Social Welfare Program (NSWP). An interesting property of the NSWP is that it … Read more

Strong Relaxations for Continuous Nonlinear Programs Based on Decision Diagrams

Over the past decade, Decision Diagrams (DDs) have risen as a powerful modeling tool to solve discrete optimization problems. The extension of this emerging concept to continuous problems, however, has remained a challenge, posing a limitation on its applicability scope. In this paper, we introduce a novel framework that utilizes DDs to model continuous programs. … Read more

Optimization Problems Involving Matrix Multiplication with Applications in Material Science and Biology

We consider optimization problems involving the multiplication of variable matrices to be selected from a given family, which might be a discrete set, a continuous set or a combination of both. Such nonlinear, and possibly discrete, optimization problems arise in applications from biology and material science among others, and are known to be NP-Hard for … Read more

Expected complexity analysis of stochastic direct-search

This work presents the convergence rate analysis of stochastic variants of the broad class of direct-search methods of directional type. It introduces an algorithm designed to optimize differentiable objective functions $f$ whose values can only be computed through a stochastically noisy blackbox. The proposed stochastic directional direct-search (SDDS) algorithm accepts new iterates by imposing a … Read more

Testing Copositivity via Mixed-Integer Linear Programming

We describe a simple method to test if a given matrix is copositive by solving a single mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem. This methodology requires no special coding to implement and takes advantage of the computational power of modern MILP solvers. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the method is robust and efficient. CitationDept. of Business Analytics, … Read more

Computing mixed strategies equilibria in presence of switching costs by the solution of nonconvex QP problems

In this paper we address a game theory problem arising in the context of network security. In traditional game theory problems, given a defender and an attacker, one searches for mixed strategies which minimize a linear payoff functional. In the problem addressed in this paper an additional quadratic term is added to the minimization problem. … Read more