Time-series aggregation for the optimization of energy systems: goals, challenges, approaches, and opportunities

The rising significance of renewable energy increases the importance of representing time-varying input data in energy system optimization studies. Time-series aggregation, which reduces temporal model complexity, has emerged in recent years to address this challenge. We provide a comprehensive review of time-series aggregation for the optimization of energy systems. We show where time series affect … Read more

On the convex hull of convex quadratic optimization problems with indicators

We consider the convex quadratic optimization problem with indicator variables and arbitrary constraints on the indicators. We show that a convex hull description of the associated mixed-integer set in an extended space with a quadratic number of additional variables consists of a single positive semidefinite constraint (explicitly stated) and linear constraints. In particular, convexification of … Read more

An Algorithm for Stochastic Convex-Concave Fractional Programs with Applications to Production Efficiency and Equitable Resource Allocation

We propose an algorithm to solve convex and concave fractional programs and their stochastic counterparts in a common framework. Our approach is based on a novel reformulation that involves differences of square terms in the constraints, and subsequent employment of piecewise-linear approximations of the concave terms. Using the branch-and-bound (B&B) framework, our algorithm adaptively refines … Read more

Absolute regret of implicitly defined sets for combinatorial optimization problems

We consider combinatorial optimization problems with interval uncertainty in the cost vector. Recently a new approach was developed to deal with such uncertainties: instead of a single one absolute robust solution, obtained by solving a min max problem, a set of cardinality predefined and minimal absolute regret, obtained by solving a min max min problem, … Read more

Graph topology invariant gradient and sampling complexity for decentralized and stochastic optimization

One fundamental problem in decentralized multi-agent optimization is the trade-off between gradient/sampling complexity and communication complexity. We propose new algorithms whose gradient and sampling complexities are graph topology invariant, while their communication complexities remain optimal. For convex smooth deterministic problems, we propose a primal dual sliding (PDS) algorithm that computes an $\epsilon$-solution with $O((\tilde{L}/\epsilon)^{1/2})$ gradient … Read more

Optimal Robust Policy for Feature-Based Newsvendor

We study policy optimization for the feature-based newsvendor, which seeks an end-to-end policy that renders an explicit mapping from features to ordering decisions. Unlike existing works that restrict the policies to some parametric class which may suffer from sub-optimality (such as affine class) or lack of interpretability (such as neural networks), we aim to optimize … Read more

Affine invariant convergence rates of the conditional gradient method

We show that the conditional gradient method for the convex composite problem \[\min_x\{f(x) + \Psi(x)\}\] generates primal and dual iterates with a duality gap converging to zero provided a suitable growth property holds and the algorithm makes a judicious choice of stepsizes. The rate of convergence of the duality gap to zero ranges from sublinear … Read more

Worst-Case Complexity of an SQP Method for Nonlinear Equality Constrained Stochastic Optimization

A worst-case complexity bound is proved for a sequential quadratic optimization (commonly known as SQP) algorithm that has been designed for solving optimization problems involving a stochastic objective function and deterministic nonlinear equality constraints. Barring additional terms that arise due to the adaptivity of the monotonically nonincreasing merit parameter sequence, the proved complexity bound is … Read more

Metaheuristic, Models and Software for the Heterogeneous Fleet Pickup and Delivery Problem with Split Loads

This paper addresses a rich variant of the vehicle routing problem (VRP) that involves pickup and delivery activities, customer time windows, heterogeneous fleet, multiple products and the possibility of splitting a customer demand among several routes. This variant generalizes traditional VRP variants by incorporating features that are commonly found in practice. We present two mixed-integer … Read more

Using an Analytical Computational-Geometry Library to Model Nonoverlap and Boundary-Distance Constraints and their Application to Packing Poly-Bézier Shapes

In this paper we will show how to model nonoverlap as well as uniform and nonuniform boundary-distance constraints between poly-Bézier shapes using an analytical computational-geometry library. We then use this capability to develop, implement and analyze analytical-optimization solutions to minimum-area rectangular-boundary packing-problems as well as minimum-area one- and two-dimensional puzzle-piece packing-problems. In the process, we … Read more