UFO 2014 – Interactive System for Universal Functional Optimization

This report contains a description of the interactive system for universal functional optimization UFO, version 2014. This version contains interfaces to the MATLAB and SCILAB graphics environments. Citation Research Report V1218-14, Institute of Computer Science, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague 2014. Article Download View UFO 2014 – Interactive System for Universal Functional Optimization

On the equivalence of the method of conjugate gradients and quasi-Newton methods on quadratic problems

In this paper we state necessary and sufficient conditions for equivalence of the method of conjugate gradients and quasi-Newton methods on a quadratic problem. We show that the set of quasi-Newton schemes that generate parallel search directions to those of the method of conjugate gradients is strictly larger than the one-parameter Broyden family. In addition, … Read more

Polynomial Root Radius Optimization with Affine Constraints

The root radius of a polynomial is the maximum of the moduli of its roots (zeros). We consider the following optimization problem: minimize the root radius over monic polynomials of degree $n$, with either real or complex coefficients, subject to $k$ consistent affine constraints on the coefficients. We show that there always exists an optimal … Read more

Calibration by Optimization Without Using Derivatives

Applications in engineering frequently require the adjustment of certain parameters. While the mathematical laws that determine these parameters often are well understood, due to time limitations in every day industrial life, it is typically not feasible to derive an explicit computational procedure for adjusting the parameters based on some given measurement data. This paper aims … Read more

On an Extension of One-Shots Methods to Incorporate Additional Constraints

For design optimization tasks, quite often a so-called one-shot approach is used. It augments the solution of the state equation with a suitable adjoint solver yielding approximate reduced derivatives that can be used in an optimization iteration to change the design. The coordination of these three iterative processes is well established when only the state … Read more

Computational Optimization of Gas Compressor Stations: MINLP Models vs. Continuous Reformulations

When considering cost-optimal operation of gas transport networks, compressor stations play the most important role. Proper modeling of these stations leads to complicated mixed-integer nonlinear and nonconvex optimization problems. In this article, we give an isothermal and stationary description of compressor stations, state MINLP and GDP models for operating a single station, and discuss several … Read more

Optimality and complexity for constrained optimization problems with nonconvex regularization

In this paper, we consider a class of constrained optimization problems where the feasible set is a general closed convex set and the objective function has a nonsmooth, nonconvex regularizer. Such regularizer includes widely used SCAD, MCP, logistic, fraction, hard thresholding and non-Lipschitz $L_p$ penalties as special cases. Using the theory of the generalized directional … Read more

Copositivity for second-order optimality conditions in general smooth optimization problems

Second-order local optimality conditions involving copositivity of the Hessian of the Lagrangian on the reduced linearization cone have the advantage that there is only a small gap between sufficient (the Hessian is strictly copositive) and necessary (the Hessian is copositive) conditions. In this respect, this is a proper generalization of convexity of the Lagrangian. We … Read more

On the application of the spectral projected gradient method in image segmentation

We investigate the application of the nonmonotone spectral projected gradient (SPG) method to a region-based variational model for image segmentation. We consider a “discretize-then-optimize” approach and solve the resulting nonlinear optimization problem by an alternating minimization procedure that exploits the SPG2 algorithm by Birgin, Martì­nez and Raydan (SIAM J. Optim., 10(4), 2000). We provide a … Read more

A cone-continuity constraint qualification and algorithmic consequences

Every local minimizer of a smooth constrained optimization problem satisfies the sequential Approximate Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (AKKT) condition. This optimality condition is used to define the stopping criteria of many practical nonlinear programming algorithms. It is natural to ask for conditions on the constraints under which AKKT implies KKT. These conditions will be called Strict Constraint Qualifications … Read more