K-Adaptability in Two-Stage Robust Binary Programming

Over the last two decades, robust optimization has emerged as a computationally attractive approach to formulate and solve single-stage decision problems affected by uncertainty. More recently, robust optimization has been successfully applied to multi-stage problems with continuous recourse. This paper takes a step towards extending the robust optimization methodology to problems with integer recourse, which … Read more

Efficient combination of two lower bound functions in univariate global optimization

We propose a new method for solving univariate global optimization problems by combining a lower bound function of ®BB method (see [1]) with the lower bound function of the method developed in [4]. The new lower bound function is better than the two lower bound functions. We add the convex/concave test and pruning step which … Read more

Robust optimal sizing of an hybrid energy stand-alone system

This paper deals with the optimal design of a stand-alone hybrid system composed of wind turbines, solar photovoltaic panels and batteries. To compensate for a possible lack of energy from these sources, an auxiliary fuel generator uarantees to meet the demand in every case but its use induces important costs. We have chosen a two-stage … Read more

Mathematical Programming techniques in Water Network Optimization

In this article we survey mathematical programming approaches to problems in the field of water network optimization. Predominant in the literature are two different, but related problem classes. One can be described by the notion of network design, while the other is more aptly termed by network operation. The basic underlying model in both cases … Read more

Robust Stable Payoff Distribution in Stochastic Cooperative Games

Cooperative games with transferable utilities belong to a branch of game theory where groups of players can enter into binding agreements and form coalitions in order to jointly achieve some objectives. In a cooperative setting, one of the most important questions to address is how to establish a payoff distribution among the players in such … Read more

Finding the largest low-rank clusters with Ky Fan 2-k-norm and l1-norm

We propose a convex optimization formulation with the Ky Fan 2-k-norm and l1-norm to fi nd k largest approximately rank-one submatrix blocks of a given nonnegative matrix that has low-rank block diagonal structure with noise. We analyze low-rank and sparsity structures of the optimal solutions using properties of these two matrix norms. We show that, under … Read more

About the Convexity of a Special Function on Hadamard Manifolds.

In this article we provide an erratum to Proposition 3.4 of E.A. Papa Quiroz and P.R. Oliveira. Proximal Point Methods for Quasiconvex and Convex Functions with Bregman Distances on Hadamard Manifolds, Journal of Convex Analysis 16 (2009), 49-69. More specifically, we prove that the function defined by the product of a fixed vector in the … Read more

Inverse optimal control with polynomial optimization

In the context of optimal control, we consider the inverse problem of Lagrangian identification given system dynamics and optimal trajectories. Many of its theoretical and practical aspects are still open. Potential applications are very broad as a reliable solution to the problem would provide a powerful modeling tool in many areas of experimental science. We … Read more

On the update of constraint preconditioners for regularized KKT systems

We address the problem of preconditioning sequences of regularized KKT systems, such as those arising in Interior Point methods for convex quadratic programming. In this case, Constraint Preconditioners (CPs) are very effective and widely used; however, when solving large-scale problems, the computational cost for their factorization may be high, and techniques for approximating them appear … Read more

Direct search based on probabilistic descent

Direct-search methods are a class of popular derivative-free algorithms characterized by evaluating the objective function using a step size and a number of (polling) directions. When applied to the minimization of smooth functions, the polling directions are typically taken from positive spanning sets which in turn must have at least n+1 vectors in an n-dimensional … Read more