A Comment on “Computational Complexity of Stochastic Programming Problems”

Although stochastic programming problems were always believed to be computationally challenging, this perception has only recently received a theoretical justification by the seminal work of Dyer and Stougie (Mathematical Programming A, 106(3):423–432, 2006). Amongst others, that paper argues that linear two-stage stochastic programs with fixed recourse are #P-hard even if the random problem data is … Read more

Robust Testing for Causal Inference in Observational Studies

A vast number of causal inference studies use matching techniques, where treatment cases are matched with similar control cases. For observational data in particular, we claim there is a major source of uncertainty that is essentially ignored in these tests, which is the way the assignments of matched pairs are constructed. It is entirely possible, … Read more

Activity Identification and Local Linear Convergence of Forward–Backward-type methods

In this paper, we consider a class of Forward–Backward (FB) splitting methods that includes several variants (e.g. inertial schemes, FISTA) for minimizing the sum of two proper convex and lower semi-continuous functions, one of which has a Lipschitz continuous gradient, and the other is partly smooth relatively to a smooth active manifold $\mathcal{M}$. We propose … Read more

Parallel Block Coordinate Minimization with Application to Group Regularized Regression

This paper proposes a method for parallel block coordinate-wise minimization for convex functions. Each iteration involves a first phase where n independent minimizations are performed over the n variable blocks, followed by a phase where the results of the first phase are coordinated to obtain the whole variable update. Convergence of the method to the … Read more

Convergence rate of a proximal multiplier algorithm for separable convex minimization

The proximal multiplier method with proximal distances (PMAPD) proposed by O. Sarmiento C., E. A. Papa Quiroz and P. R. Oliveira, applied to solve a convex program with separable structure unified the works of Chen and Teboulle (PCPM method), Kyono and Fukushima (NPCPMM) and Auslender and Teboulle (EPDM) and extended the convergence properties for the … Read more

Solving Classical and New Single Allocation Hub Location Problems on Euclidean Data

Transport networks with hub structure organise the exchange of shipments between many sources and sinks. All sources and sinks are connected to a small number of hubs which serve as transhipment points, so that only few, strongly consolidated transport relations exist. While hubs and detours lead to additional costs, the savings from bundling shipments, i.e. … Read more

UFO 2014 – Interactive System for Universal Functional Optimization

This report contains a description of the interactive system for universal functional optimization UFO, version 2014. This version contains interfaces to the MATLAB and SCILAB graphics environments. CitationResearch Report V1218-14, Institute of Computer Science, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague 2014. ArticleDownload View PDF

Smooth Strongly Convex Interpolation and Exact Worst-case Performance of First-order Methods

We show that the exact worst-case performance of fixed-step first-order methods for unconstrained optimization of smooth (possibly strongly) convex functions can be obtained by solving convex programs. Finding the worst-case performance of a black-box first-order method is formulated as an optimization problem over a set of smooth (strongly) convex functions and initial conditions. We develop … Read more

Performance of First- and Second-Order Methods for L1-Regularized Least Squares Problems

We study the performance of first- and second-order optimization methods for l1-regularized sparse least-squares problems as the conditioning and the dimensions of the problem increase up to one trillion. A rigorously defined generator is presented which allows control of the dimensions, the conditioning and the sparsity of the problem. The generator has very low memory … Read more

Robust optimization based EV charging

With the introduction of new technologies like electric vehicles and smart grids the operation and planning of power systems are subject to major changes. These technologies can bring various ftexibilities to different entities involved in decision making. This paper proposes a robust optimization based method to optimal charging/discharging of electric vehicles con­ sidering the electricity … Read more