Distributionally Robust Optimization under Distorted Expectations

Distributionally robust optimization (DRO) has arose as an important paradigm to address the issue of distributional ambiguity in decision optimization. In its standard form, DRO seeks an optimal solution against the worst-possible expected value evaluated based on a set of candidate distributions. In the case where a decision maker is not risk neutral, the most … Read more

Dynamic Node Packing

We propose a dynamic version of the classical node packing problem, also called the stable set or independent set problem. The problem is defined by a node set, a node weight vector, and an edge probability vector. For every pair of nodes, an edge is present or not according to an independent Bernoulli random variable … Read more

Distributionally Robust Chance-Constrained Programs with Right-Hand Side Uncertainty under Wasserstein Ambiguity

We consider exact deterministic mixed-integer programming (MIP) reformulations of distributionally robust chance-constrained programs (DR-CCP) with random right-hand sides over Wasserstein ambiguity sets. The existing MIP formulations are known to have weak continuous relaxation bounds, and, consequently, for hard instances with small radius, or with a large number of scenarios, the branch-and-bound based solution processes suffer … Read more

Bregman primal–dual first-order method and application to sparse semidefinite programming

We present a new variant of the Chambolle–Pock primal–dual method with Bregman distances, analyze its convergence, and apply it to the centering problem in sparse semidefinite programming. The novelty in the method is a line search procedure for selecting suitable step sizes. The line search obviates the need for estimating the norm of the constraint … Read more

On the convergence of augmented Lagrangian strategies for nonlinear programming

Augmented Lagrangian algorithms are very popular and successful methods for solving constrained optimization problems. Recently, the global convergence analysis of these methods have been dramatically improved by using the notion of the sequential optimality conditions. Such conditions are optimality conditions independently of the fulfilment of any constraint qualifications and provide theoretical tools to justify stopping … Read more

A numerical study of transformed mixed-integer optimal control problems

Time transformation is a ubiquitous tool in theoretical sciences, especially in physics. It can also be used to transform switched optimal con trol problems into control problems with a fixed switching order and purely continuous decisions. This approach is known either as enhanced time transformation, time-scaling, or switching time optimization (STO) for mixed-integer optimal control. … Read more

A K-Nearest Neighbor Heuristic for Real-Time DC Optimal Transmission Switching

While transmission switching is known to reduce power generation costs, the difficulty of solving even DC optimal transmission switching (DCOTS) has prevented optimal transmission switching from becoming commonplace in real-time power systems operation. In this paper, we present a k-nearest neighbors (KNN) heuristic for DCOTS which relies on the insight that, for routine operations on … Read more

Stability in the the Hospitals / Residents problem with Couples and Ties: Mathematical models and computational studies

In the well-known Hospitals/Residents problem (HR), the objective is to find a stable matching of doctors (or residents) to hospitals based on their preference lists. In this paper, we study HRCT, the extension of HR in which doctors are allowed to apply in couples, and in which doctors and hospitals can include ties in their … Read more

A note on the Lasserre hierarchy for different formulations of the maximum independent set problem

In this note, we consider several polynomial optimization formulations of the max- imum independent set problem and the use of the Lasserre hierarchy with these different formulations. We demonstrate using computational experiments that the choice of formulation may have a significant impact on the resulting bounds. We also provide theoretical justifications for the observed behavior. … Read more

A proximal bundle variant with optimal iteration-complexity for a large range of prox stepsizes

This paper presents a proximal bundle variant, namely, the relaxed proximal bundle (RPB) method, for solving convex nonsmooth composite optimization problems. Like other proximal bundle variants, RPB solves a sequence of prox bundle subproblems whose objective functions are regularized composite cutting-plane models. Moreover, RPB uses a novel condition to decide whether to perform a serious … Read more