Column Generation for Generalized Min-Cost Flows with Losses

The generalized flow problem deals with flows through a network with losses or gains along the arcs. Motivated by energy networks, this paper concentrates on the case with losses along cycles. Such networks can become extremely large, mostly because they are considered over large time horizons. We therefore develop a column generation approach for a … Read more

Optimization in Theory and Practice

Algorithms for continuous optimization problems have a rich history of design and innovation over the past several decades, in which mathematical analysis of their convergence and complexity properties plays a central role. Besides their theoretical properties, optimization algorithms are interesting also for their practical usefulness as computational tools for solving real-world problems. There are often … Read more

An extension of an interior-point method to include risk aversion in large-scale multistage stochastic optimization

In the earlier paper “On solving large-scale multistage stochastic optimization problems with a new specialized interior-point approach, European Journal of Operational Research, 310 (2023), 268–285” the authors presented a novel approach based on a specialized interior-point method (IPM) for solving (risk neutral) large-scale multistage stochastic optimization problems. The method computed the Newton direction by combining … Read more

Extracting Alternative Solutions from Benders Decomposition

We show how to extract alternative solutions for optimization problems solved by Benders Decom- position. In practice, alternative solutions provide useful insights for complex applications; some solvers do support generation of alternative solutions but none appear to support such generation when using Benders Decomposition. We propose a new post-processing method that extracts multiple optimal and … Read more

Inspection Games with Incomplete Information and Heterogeneous Resources

We study a two-player zero-sum inspection game with incomplete information, where an inspector deploys resources to maximize the expected damage value of detected illegal items hidden by an adversary across capacitated locations. Inspection and illegal resources differ in their detection capabilities and damage values. Both players face uncertainty regarding each other’s available resources, modeled via … Read more

On Parametric Linear Programming Duality

Recognizing the strength of parametric optimization to model uncertainty, we extend the classical linear programming duality theory to a parametric setting. For linear programs with parameters in general locations, we prove parametric weak and strong duality theorems and parametric complementary slackness theorems. ArticleDownload

Solving a linear program via a single unconstrained minimization

This paper proposes a novel approach for solving linear programs. We reformulate a primal-dual linear program as an unconstrained minimization of a convex and twice continuously differentiable merit function. When the optimal set of the primal-dual pair is nonempty, its optimal set is equal to the optimal set of the proposed merit function. Minimizing this … Read more

Efficient LP warmstarting for linear modifications of the constraint matrix

We consider the problem of computing the optimal solution and objective of a linear program under linearly changing linear constraints. The problem studied is given by $\min c^t x \text{ s.t } Ax + \lambda Dx \leq b$ where $\lambda$ belongs to a set of predefined values $\Lambda$. Based on the information given by a … Read more

High-Probability Polynomial-Time Complexity of Restarted PDHG for Linear Programming

The restarted primal-dual hybrid gradient method (rPDHG) is a first-order method that has recently received significant attention for its computational effectiveness in solving linear program (LP) problems. Despite its impressive practical performance, the theoretical iteration bounds for rPDHG can be exponentially poor. To shrink this gap between theory and practice, we show that rPDHG achieves … Read more

On parametric formulations for the Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem

The traveling salesman problem is a widely studied classical combinatorial problem for which there are several integer linear formulations. In this work, we consider the Miller-Tucker-Zemlin (MTZ), Desrochers-Laporte (DL) and Single Commodity Flow (SCF) formulations. We argue that the choice of some parameters of these formulations is arbitrary and, therefore, there are families of formulations … Read more