A PTAS for the minimization of polynomials of fixed degree over the simplex

We consider the problem of computing the minimum value $p_{\min}$ taken by a polynomial $p(x)$ of degree $d$ over the standard simplex $\Delta$. This is an NP-hard problem already for degree $d=2$. For any integer $k\ge 1$, by minimizing $p(x)$ over the set of rational points in $\Delta$ with denominator $k$, one obtains a hierarchy … Read more

GRASP with path-relinking for the weighted maximum satisfiability problem

A GRASP with path-relinking for finding good-quality solutions of the weighted maximum satisfiability problem (MAX-SAT) is described in this paper. GRASP, or Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure, is a randomized multi-start metaheuristic, where at each iteration locally optimal solutions are constructed, each independent of the others. Previous experimental results indicate its effectiveness for solving weighted … Read more

Convergence of a hybrid projection-proximal point algorithm coupled with approximation methods in convex optimization

In order to minimize a closed convex function that is approximated by a sequence of better behaved functions, we investigate the global convergence of a generic diagonal hybrid algorithm, which consists of an inexact relaxed proximal point step followed by a suitable orthogonal projection onto a hyperplane. The latter permits to consider a fixed relative … Read more

Sums of Squares and Semidefinite Programming Relaxations for Polynomial Optimization Problems with Structured Sparsity

Unconstrained and inequality constrained sparse polynomial optimization problems (POPs) are considered. A correlative sparsity pattern graph is defined to find a certain sparse structure in the objective and constraint polynomials of a POP. Based on this graph, sets of supports for sums of squares (SOS) polynomials that lead to efficient SOS and semidefinite programming (SDP) … Read more

Jordan-algebraic aspects of nonconvex optimization over symmetric cones

We illustrate the usefulness of Jordan-algebraic technique for nonconvex optimization by considering a potential-reduction algorithm for a nonconvex quadratic function over the domain obtained as the intersection of a symmetric cone with an affine subspace Citation Preprint, September,2004 Article Download View Jordan-algebraic aspects of nonconvex optimization over symmetric cones

Optimal distance separating halfspace

One recently proposed criterion to separate two datasets in discriminant analysis, is to use a hyperplane which minimises the sum of distances to it from all the misclassified data points. Here all distances are supposed to be measured by way of some fixed norm,while misclassification means lying on the wrong side of the hyperplane, or … Read more

Optimal expected-distance separating halfspace

One recently proposed criterion to separate two datasets in discriminant analysis, is to use a hyperplane which minimises the sum of distances to it from all the misclassified data points. Here all distances are supposed to be measured by way of some fixed norm, while misclassification means lying on the wrong side of the hyperplane, … Read more

A Piecewise Linearization Framework for Retail Shelf Space Management Models

Managing shelf space is critical for retailers to attract customers and to optimize profit. This paper develops a shelf space allocation optimization model that explicitly incorporates essential in-store costs and considers space- and cross-elasticities. The resultant model maximizes a signomial objective function over linear and bilinear constraints in mixed-integer variables. We propose a piecewise linearization … Read more

A Branch-Reduce-Cut Algorithm for the Global Optimization of Probabilistically Constrained Linear Programs

We consider probabilistic constrained linear programs with general distributions for the uncertain parameters. These problems generally involve non-convex feasible sets. We develop a branch and bound algorithm that searches for a global solution to this problem by successively partitioning the non-convex feasible region and by using bounds on the objective function to fathom inferior partitions. … Read more

Constrained Global Optimization with Radial Basis Functions

Response surface methods show promising results for global optimization of costly non convex objective functions, i.e. the problem of finding the global minimum when there are several local minima and each function value takes considerable CPU time to compute. Such problems often arise in industrial and financial applications, where a function value could be a … Read more