Projection and rescaling algorithm for finding most interior solutions to polyhedral conic systems

We propose a simple projection and rescaling algorithm that finds {\em most interior} solutions to the pair of feasibility problems \[ \text{find} x\in L\cap \R^n_{+} \text{ and } \text{find} \; \hat x\in L^\perp\cap\R^n_{+}, \] where $L$ is a linear subspace of $\R^n$ and $L^\perp$ is its orthogonal complement. The algorithm complements a basic procedure that … Read more

The Magic of Nash Social Welfare in Optimization: Do Not Sum, Just Multiply!

In this paper, we explain some key challenges when dealing with a single/multi-objective optimization problem in practice. To overcome these challenges, we present a mathematical program that optimizes a Nash Social Welfare function. We refer to this mathematical program as the Nash Social Welfare Program (NSWP). An interesting property of the NSWP is that it … Read more

The Value of Randomized Strategies in Distributionally Robust Risk Averse Network Interdiction Games

Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) is widely used to account for the preferences of a risk-averse agent in the extreme loss scenarios. To study the effectiveness of randomization in interdiction games with an interdictor that is both risk and ambiguity averse, we introduce a distributionally robust network interdiction game where the interdictor randomizes over the … Read more

Variable Smoothing for Weakly Convex Composite Functions

We study minimization of a structured objective function, being the sum of a smooth function and a composition of a weakly convex function with a linear operator. Applications include image reconstruction problems with regularizers that introduce less bias than the standard convex regularizers. We develop a variable smoothing algorithm, based on the Moreau envelope with … Read more

An explicit Tikhonov algorithm for nested variational inequalities

We consider nested variational inequalities consisting in a (upper-level) variational inequality whose feasible set is given by the solution set of another (lower-level) variational inequality. Purely hierarchical convex bilevel optimization problems and certain multi-follower games are particular instances of nested variational inequalities. We present an explicit and ready-to-implement Tikhonov-type solution method for such problems. We … Read more

Orbital Conflict: Cutting Planes for Symmetric Integer Programs

Cutting planes have been an important factor in the impressive progress made by integer programming (IP) solvers in the past two decades. However, cutting planes have had little impact on improving performance for symmetric IPs. Rather, the main breakthroughs for solving symmetric IPs have been achieved by cleverly exploiting symmetry in the enumeration phase of … Read more

Implicit steepest descent algorithm for optimization with orthogonality constraints

Optimization with orthogonality constraints problems appear widely in applications from science and engineering. We address these types of problems from an numerical approach. Our new framework combines the steepest gradient descent using implicit information with and operator projection in order to construct a feasible sequence of points. In addition, we adopt an adaptive Barzilai–Borwein steplength … Read more

Strong Relaxations for Continuous Nonlinear Programs Based on Decision Diagrams

Over the past decade, Decision Diagrams (DDs) have risen as a powerful modeling tool to solve discrete optimization problems. The extension of this emerging concept to continuous problems, however, has remained a challenge, posing a limitation on its applicability scope. In this paper, we introduce a novel framework that utilizes DDs to model continuous programs. … Read more

Effectively managing diagnostic tests to monitor the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy

Urged by the outbreak of the COVID-19 in Italy, this study aims at helping to tackle the spread of the disease by resorting to operations research techniques. In particular, we propose a mathematical program to model the problem of establishing how many diagnostic tests the Italian regions must perform in order to maximize the overall … Read more

A Combinatorial Cut-and-Lift Procedure with an Application to 0-1 Chance Constraints

Cut generation and lifting are key components for the performance of state-of-the-art mathematical programming solvers. This work proposes a new general cut-and-lift procedure that exploits the combinatorial structure of 0-1 problems via a binary decision diagram (BDD) encoding of their constraints. We present a general framework that can be applied to a large range of … Read more