Approximate Dynamic Programming for a Class of Long-Horizon Maritime Inventory Routing Problems

We study a deterministic maritime inventory routing problem with a long planning horizon. For instances with many ports and many vessels, mixed-integer linear programming (MIP) solvers often require hours to produce good solutions even when the planning horizon is 90 or 120 periods. Building on the recent successes of approximate dynamic programming (ADP) for road-based … Read more

A new semidenite programming relaxation for the quadratic assignment problem and its computational perspectives

Recent progress in solving quadratic assignment problems (QAPs) from the QAPLIB test set has come from mixed integer linear or quadratic programming models that are solved in a branch-and-bound framework. Semidenite programming bounds for QAP have also been studied in some detail, but their computational impact has been limited so far, mostly due to the … Read more

Algebraic rules for quadratic regularization of Newton’s method

In this work we propose a class of quasi-Newton methods to minimize a twice differentiable function with Lipschitz continuous Hessian. These methods are based on the quadratic regularization of Newton’s method, with algebraic explicit rules for computing the regularizing parameter. The convergence properties of this class of methods are analysed. We show that if the … Read more

Rational sums of hermitian squares of free noncommutative polynomials

In this paper we consider polynomials in noncommuting variables that admit sum of hermitian squares and commutators decompositions. We recall algorithms for finding decompositions of this type that are based on semidefinite programming. The main part of the article investigates how to find such decomposition with rational coefficients if the original polynomial has rational coefficients. … Read more

Scheduling of Two Agents Task Chains with a Central Selection Mechanism

In this paper we address a deterministic scheduling problem in which two agents compete for the usage of a single machine. Each agent decides on a fixed order to submit its tasks to an external coordination subject, who sequences them according to a known priority rule. We consider the problem from different perspectives. First, we … Read more

A game-theoretic approach to computation offloading in mobile cloud computing

We consider a three-tier architecture for mobile and pervasive computing scenarios, consisting of a local tier of mobile nodes, a middle tier (cloudlets) of nearby computing nodes, typically located at the mobile nodes access points but characterized by a limited amount of resources, and a remote tier of distant cloud servers, which have practically infinite … Read more

Inverse Parametric Optimization with an Application to Hybrid System Control

We present a number of results on inverse parametric optimization and its application to hybrid system control. We show that any function that can be written as the difference of two convex functions can also be written as a linear mapping of the solution to a convex parametric optimization problem. We exploit these results in … Read more

A New Framework for Combining Global and Local Methods in Black Box Optimization

We propose a new framework for the optimization of computationally expensive black box problems, where neither closed-form expressions nor derivatives of the objective functions are available. The proposed framework consists of two procedures. The first constructs a global metamodel to approximate the underlying black box function and explores an unvisited area to search for a … Read more

Improving the LP bound of a MILP by dual concurrent branching and the relationship to cut generation methods

In this paper branching for attacking MILP is investigated. Under certain circumstances branches can be done concurrently. By introducing a new calculus it is shown there are restrictions for dual values. As a second result of this study a new class of cuts for MILP is found, which are defined by those values. This class … Read more