We consider the question of global convergence of iterative methods for nonlinear programming problems. Traditionally, penalty functions have been used to enforce global convergence. In this paper we review a recent alternative, so-called filter methods. Instead of combing the objective and constraint violation into a single function, filter methods view nonlinear optimization as a biobjective … Read more
The paper is devoted to a revision of the metric regularity property for mappings between metric or Banach spaces. Some new concepts are introduced: uniform metric regularity, metric regularity along a subspace, strong metric regularity for mappings into product spaces, when each component is perturbed independently. Regularity criteria are established based on a nonlocal version … Read more
We consider the computational complexity of optimizing various classes of continuous functions over a simplex, hypercube or sphere. These relatively simple optimization problems have many applications. We review known approximation results as well as negative (inapproximability) results from the recent literature. CitationCentER Discussion paper 2006-85 Tilburg University THe NetherlandsArticleDownload View PDF
We consider the fundamental problem of computing an optimal portfolio based on a quadratic mean-variance model of the objective function and a given polyhedral representation of the constraints. The main departure from the classical quadratic programming formulation is the inclusion in the objective function of piecewise linear, separable functions representing the transaction costs. We handle … Read more
We present a new primal-dual algorithm for convex quadratic multicriteria optimization. The algorithm is able to adaptively refine the approximation to the set of efficient points by way of a warm-start interior-point scalarization approach. Results of this algorithm when applied on a three-criteria real-world power plant optimization problem are reported, thereby illustrating the feasibility of … Read more
The notion of soft thresholding plays a central role in problems from various areas of applied mathematics, in which the ideal solution is known to possess a sparse decomposition in some orthonormal basis. Using convex-analytical tools, we extend this notion to that of proximal thresholding and investigate its properties, providing in particular several characterizations of … Read more
We present a two-phase algorithm for solving large-scale quadratic programs (QPs). In the first phase, gradient-projection iterations approximately minimize an augmented Lagrangian function and provide an estimate of the optimal active set. In the second phase, an equality-constrained QP defined by the current inactive variables is approximately minimized in order to generate a second-order search … Read more
Given an n by n symmetric possibly indefinite matrix A, a modified Cholesky algorithm computes a factorization of the positive definite matrix A+E, where E is a correction matrix. Since the factorization is often used to compute a Newton-like downhill search direction for an optimization problem, the goals are to compute the modification without much … Read more
This paper proposes a new stochastic algorithm, Search via Probability (SP) algorithm, for single-objective optimization problems. The SP algorithm uses probabilities to control the process of searching for optimal solutions. We calculate probabilities of the appearance of a better solution than the current one on each iteration, and on the performance of SP algorithm we … Read more
We study piecewise decomposition methods for mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints (MPECs) for which all constraint functions are linear. At each iteration of a decomposition method, one step of a nonlinear programming scheme is applied to one piece of the MPEC to obtain the next iterate. Our goal is to understand global convergence to B-stationary … Read more