A recursive trust-region method in infinity norm for bound-constrained nonlinear optimization

A recursive trust-region method is introduced for the solution of bound-constrained nonlinear nonconvex optimization problems for which a hierarchy of descriptions exists. Typical cases are infinite-dimensional problems for which the levels of the hierarchy correspond to discretization levels, from coarse to fine. The new method uses the infinity norm to define the shape of the … Read more

Nonlinear programming without a penalty function or a filter

A new method is introduced for solving equality constrained nonlinear optimization problems. This method does not use a penalty function, nor a barrier or a filter, and yet can be proved to be globally convergent to first-order stationary points. It uses different trust-regions to cope with the nonlinearities of the objective function and the constraints, … Read more

Modeling and Simulation of Metabolic Networks for Estimation of Biomass Accumulation Parameters

Metabolic networks are defined as the collection of biochemical reactions within a cell that define the functions of that cell. Due to the growing need to understand the functions of biological organisms for industrial and medical purposes, modeling and simulation of metabolic networks has attracted a lot of attention recently. Traditionally, metabolic networks are modeled … Read more

A null-space primal-dual interior-point algorithm for nonlinear optimization with nice convergence properties

We present a null-space primal-dual interior-point algorithm for solving nonlinear optimization problems with general inequality and equality constraints. The algorithm approximately solves a sequence of equality constrained barrier subproblems by computing a predictor step and a null space step in every iteration. The $\ell_2$ penalty function is taken as the merit function. Under very mild … Read more

Approximate Primal Solutions and Rate Analysis in Dual Subgradient Methods

We study primal solutions obtained as a by-product of subgradient methods when solving the Lagrangian dual of a primal convex constrained optimization problem (possibly nonsmooth). The existing literature on the use of subgradient methods for generating primal optimal solutions is limited to the methods producing such solutions only asymptotically (i.e., in the limit as the … Read more

Derivative Free Optimization Methods for Optimizing Stirrer Configurations

In this paper a numerical approach for the optimization of stirrer configurations is presented. The methodology is based on a flow solver, and a mathematical optimization tool, which are integrated into an automated procedure. The flow solver is based on the discretization of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations by means of a fully conservative finite-volume method … Read more

Survey of Derivative Free Optimization Methods based on Interpolation

In this survey article we give the basic description of the interpolation based derivative free optimization methods and their variants. We review the recent contributions dealing with the maintaining the geometry of the interpolation set, the management of the trust region radius and the stopping criteria. Derivative free algorithms developed for problems with some structure … Read more

On large scale unconstrained optimization problems and higher order methods

Third order methods will in most cases use fewer iterations than a second order method to reach the same accuracy. However, the number of arithmetic operations per iteration is higher for third order methods than a second order method. Newton’s method is the most commonly used second order method and Halley’s method is the most … Read more

A conic duality Frank–Wolfe type theorem via exact penalization in quadratic optimization

The famous Frank–Wolfe theorem ensures attainability of the optimal value for quadratic objective functions over a (possibly unbounded) polyhedron if the feasible values are bounded. This theorem does not hold in general for conic programs where linear constraints are replaced by more general convex constraints like positive-semidefiniteness or copositivity conditions, despite the fact that the … Read more

Data Assimilation in Weather Forecasting: A Case Study in PDE-Constrained Optimization

Variational data assimilation is used at major weather prediction centers to produce the initial conditions for 7- to 10-day weather forecasts. This technique requires the solution of a very large data-fitting problem in which the major element is a set of partial differential equations that models the evolution of the atmosphere over a time window … Read more