Strict Fejér Monotonicity by Superiorization of Feasibility-Seeking Projection Methods

We consider the superiorization methodology, which can be thought of as lying between feasibility-seeking and constrained minimization. It is not quite trying to solve the full fledged constrained minimization problem; rather, the task is to find a feasible point which is superior (with respect to the objective function value) to one returned by a feasibility-seeking … Read more

A several new mixed integer linear programming formulations for exploration of online social networks

The goal of this paper is to identify the most promising sets of closest assignment constraints from the literature, in order to improve mixed integer linear programming formulations for exploration of information flow within a social network. The direct comparison between proposed formulations is performed on standard single source capacitated facility location problem instances. Therefore, … Read more

Parallel Large-Neighborhood Search Techniques for LNG Inventory Routing

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is estimated to account for a growing portion of the world natural gas trade. For profitable operation of a capital intensive LNG project, it is necessary to optimally design various aspects of the supply chain associated with it. Of particular interest is optimization of ship schedules and the inventories on the … Read more

Parallel Algorithms for Big Data Optimization

We propose a decomposition framework for the parallel optimization of the sum of a differentiable function and a (block) separable nonsmooth, convex one. The latter term is usually employed to enforce structure in the solution, typically sparsity. Our framework is very flexible and includes both fully parallel Jacobi schemes and Gauss-Seidel (i.e., sequential) ones, as … Read more

CBLIB 2014: A benchmark library for conic mixed-integer and continuous optimization

The Conic Benchmark Library (CBLIB 2014) is a collection of more than a hundred conic optimization instances under a free and open license policy. It is the first extensive benchmark library for the advancing field of conic mixed-integer and continuous optimization, which is already supported by all major commercial solvers and spans a wide range … Read more

A search for quantum coin-flipping protocols using optimization techniques

Coin-flipping is a cryptographic task in which two physically separated, mistrustful parties wish to generate a fair coin-flip by communicating with each other. Chailloux and Kerenidis (2009) designed quantum protocols that guarantee coin-flips with near optimal bias away from uniform, even when one party deviates arbitrarily from the protocol. The probability of any outcome in … Read more

Applying oracles of on-demand accuracy in two-stage stochastic programming – a computational study

Traditionally, two variants of the L-shaped method based on Benders’ decomposition principle are used to solve two-stage stochastic programming problems: the single-cut and the multi-cut version. The concept of an oracle with on-demand accuracy was originally proposed in the context of bundle methods for unconstrained convex optimzation to provide approximate function data and subgradients. In … Read more

An inexact block-decomposition method for extra large-scale conic semidefinite programming

In this paper, we present an inexact block-decomposition (BD) first-order method for solving standard form conic semidefinite programming (SDP) which avoids computations of exact projections onto the manifold defined by the affine constraints and, as a result, is able to handle extra large SDP instances. The method is based on a two-block reformulation of the … Read more

Memory-Aware Parallelized RLT3 for Solving Quadratic Assignment Problems

We present a coarse-grain (outer-loop) parallel implementation of RLT1/2/3 (Level 1, 2, and 3 Reformulation and Linearization Technique—in that order) bound calculations for the QAP within a branch-and-bound procedure. For a search tree node of size S, each RLT3 and RLT2 bound calculation iteration is parallelized S ways, with each of S processors performing O(S5) … Read more

Modeling with Metaconstraints and Semantic Typing of Variables

Recent research in hybrid optimization shows that a combination of technologies that exploits their complementary strengths can significantly speed up computation. The use of high-level metaconstraints in the problem formulation can achieve a substantial share of these computational gains by better communicating problem structure to the solver. During the solution process, however, metaconstraints give rise … Read more