We establish a general computational framework for Chvátal’s conjecture based on exact rational integer programming. As a result we prove Chvátal’s conjecture holds for all downsets whose union of sets contains seven elements or less. The computational proof relies on an exact branch-and-bound certificate that allows for elementary verification and is independent of the integer … Read more
We propose a novel theoretical framework to investigate deep neural networks using the formalism of proximal fixed point methods for solving variational inequalities. We first show that almost all activation functions used in neural networks are actually proximity operators. This leads to an algorithmic model alternating firmly nonexpansive and linear operators. We derive new results … Read more
In the last two decades, many descent methods for multiobjective optimization problems were proposed. In particular, the steepest descent and the Newton methods were studied for the unconstrained case. In both methods, the search directions are computed by solving convex subproblems, and the stepsizes are obtained by an Armijo-type line search. As a consequence, the … Read more
We study cyclic binary strings with bounds on the lengths of the intervals of consecutive ones and zeros. This is motivated by scheduling problems where such binary strings can be used to represent the state (on/off) of a machine. In this context the bounds correspond to minimum and maximum lengths of on- or off-intervals, and … Read more
We introduce an extension of Stochastic Dual Dynamic Programming (SDDP) to solve stochastic convex dynamic programming equations. This extension applies when some or all primal and dual subproblems to be solved along the forward and backward passes of the method are solved with bounded errors (inexactly). This inexact variant of SDDP is described both for … Read more
In this paper, we discuss input modeling and solution techniques for several classes of chance constrained programs (CCPs). We propose to use Gaussian mixture models (GMM), a semi-parametric approach, to fit the data available and to model the randomness. We demonstrate the merits of using GMM. We consider several scenarios that arise from practical applications … Read more
We study single- and multiple-ratio robust fractional 0-1 programming problems (RFPs). In particular, this work considers RFPs under a wide-range of disjoint and joint uncertainty sets, where the former implies separate uncertainty sets for each numerator and denominator, and the latter accounts for different forms of inter-relatedness between them. First, we demonstrate that, unlike the … Read more
In this paper, we generalize the classical extragradient algorithm for solving variational inequality problems by utilizing non-null normal vectors of the feasible set. In particular, conceptual algorithms are proposed with two different linesearches. We then establish convergence results for these algorithms under mild assumptions. Our study suggests that non-null normal vectors may significantly improve convergence … Read more
We consider an uncapacitated multi-item multi-echelon lot-sizing problem within a remanufacturing system involving three production echelons: disassembly, refurbishing and reassembly. We seek to plan the production activities on this system over a multi-period horizon. We consider a stochastic environment, in which the input data of the optimization problem are subject to uncertainty. We propose a … Read more
Bellman formulated a vague principle for optimization over time, which characterizes optimal policies by stating that a decision maker should not regret previous decisions retrospectively. This paper addresses time consistency in stochastic optimization. The problem is stated in generality first. The paper discusses time consistent decision-making by addressing risk measures which are recursive, nested, dynamically … Read more