An inexact block-decomposition method for extra large-scale conic semidefinite programming

In this paper, we present an inexact block-decomposition (BD) first-order method for solving standard form conic semidefinite programming (SDP) which avoids computations of exact projections onto the manifold defined by the affine constraints and, as a result, is able to handle extra large SDP instances. The method is based on a two-block reformulation of the … Read more

Finding the Most Likely Infection Path in Networks with Limited Information

In this paper we address the problem of identifying the most likely infection pattern responsible for the spread of a disease in a network. In particular, we focus on the scenario where limited information (i.e. infection reports) is available during an ongoing outbreak. For this problem we propose a maximum likelihood model and present an … Read more

Penalty Methods with Stochastic Approximation for Stochastic Nonlinear Programming

In this paper, we propose a class of penalty methods with stochastic approximation for solving stochastic nonlinear programming problems. We assume that only noisy gradients or function values of the objective function are available via calls to a stochastic first-order or zeroth-order oracle. In each iteration of the proposed methods, we minimize an exact penalty … Read more

On the Convergence of Alternating Minimization for Convex Programming with Applications to Iteratively Reweighted Least Squares and Decomposition Schemes

This paper is concerned with the alternating minimization (AM) for solving convex minimization problems where the decision variables vector is split into two blocks. The objective function is a sum of a differentiable convex function and a separable (possible) nonsmooth extended real-valued convex function, and consequently constraints can be incorporated. We analyze the convergence rate … Read more

A strongly convergent proximal bundle method for convex minimization in Hilbert spaces

A key procedure in proximal bundle methods for convex minimization problems is the definition of stability centers, which are points generated by the iterative process that successfully decrease the objective function. In this paper we study a different stability-center classification rule for proximal bundle methods. We show that the proposed bundle variant has three particularly … Read more

Approximation of the Quadratic Knapsack Problem

We study the approximability of the classical quadratic knapsack problem (QKP) on special graph classes. In this case the quadratic terms of the objective function are not given for each pair of knapsack items. Instead an edge weighted graph G = (V,E) whose vertices represent the knapsack items induces a quadratic profit p_ij for the … Read more

Polynomial time algorithms for the Minimax Regret Uncapacitated Lot Sizing Model

We study the Minimax Regret Uncapacitated Lot Sizing (MRULS) model, where the production cost function and the demand are subject to uncertainty. We propose a polynomial time algorithm which solves the MRULS model in O(n^6) time. We improve this running time to O(n^5) when only the demand is uncertain, and to O(n^4) when only the … Read more

A Revisit to Quadratic Programming with One Inequality Quadratic Constraint via Matrix Pencil

The quadratic programming over one inequality quadratic constraint (QP1QC) is a very special case of quadratically constrained quadratic programming (QCQP) and attracted much attention since early 1990’s. It is now understood that, under the primal Slater condition, (QP1QC) has a tight SDP relaxation (PSDP). The optimal solution to (QP1QC), if exists, can be obtained by … Read more

Reactive Power Management using Firefly and Spiral Optimization under Static and Dynamic Loading Conditions

Power System planning encompasses the concept of minimization of transmission losses keeping in mind the voltage stability and system reliability. Voltage profile decides the state of a system and its control is dependent on Generator source voltage, shunt/series injection, transformer taps etc. Optimal parameter setting in system level is needed for managing the available resources … Read more

Turnpike theorems for convex problems with undiscounted integral functionals

In this paper the turnpike property is established for convex optimal control problems, involving undiscounted utility function and differential inclusions defined by multi-valued mapping having convex graph. Utility function is concave but not necessarily strictly concave. The turnpike theorem is proved under the main assumption that over any given line segment, either multi-valued mapping is … Read more