Tactical workforce sizing and scheduling decisions for last-mile delivery

We tackle the problems of workforce sizing and shift scheduling of a logistic operator delivering parcels in the last-mile segment of the supply chain. Our working hypothesis is that the relevant decisions are affected by two main trade-offs: workforce size and shift stability. A large workforce is able to deal with demand fluctuations but incurs … Read more

A low-rank augmented Lagrangian method for large-scale semidefinite programming based on a hybrid convex-nonconvex approach

This paper introduces HALLaR, a new first-order method for solving large-scale semidefinite programs (SDPs) with bounded domain. HALLaR is an inexact augmented Lagrangian (AL) method where the AL subproblems are solved by a novel hybrid low-rank (HLR) method. The recipe behind HLR is based on two key ingredients: 1) an adaptive inexact proximal point method … Read more

Post-Processing with Projection and Rescaling Algorithms for Semidefinite Programming

We propose the algorithm that solves the symmetric cone programs (SCPs) by iteratively calling the projection and rescaling methods the algorithms for solving exceptional cases of SCP. Although our algorithm can solve SCPs by itself, we propose it intending to use it as a post-processing step for interior point methods since it can solve the … Read more

Solving moment and polynomial optimization problems on Sobolev spaces

Using standard tools of harmonic analysis, we state and solve the problem of moments for positive measures supported on the unit ball of a Sobolev space of multivariate periodic trigonometric functions. We describe outer and inner semidefinite approximations of the cone of Sobolev moments. They are the basic components of an infinite-dimensional moment-sums of squares … Read more

Design Guidelines for Noise-Tolerant Optimization with Applications in Robust Design

The development of nonlinear optimization algorithms capable of performing reliably in the presence of noise has garnered considerable attention lately. This paper advocates for strategies to create noise-tolerant nonlinear optimization algorithms by adapting classical deterministic methods. These adaptations follow certain design guidelines described here, which make use of estimates of the noise level in the … Read more

Using generalized simplex methods to approximate derivatives

This paper presents two methods for approximating a proper subset of the entries of a Hessian using only function evaluations. These approximations are obtained using the techniques called generalized simplex Hessian and generalized centered simplex Hessian. We show how to choose the matrices of directions involved in the computation of these two techniques depending on … Read more

Shadow splitting methods for nonconvex optimisation: epi-approximation, convergence and saddle point avoidance

We propose the shadow Davis-Yin three-operator splitting method to solve nonconvex optimisation problems. Its convergence analysis is based on a merit function resembling the Moreau envelope. We explore variational analysis properties behind the merit function and the iteration operators associated with the shadow method. By capitalising on these results, we establish convergence of a damped … Read more

The cosine measure relative to a subspace

The cosine measure was introduced in 2003 to quantify the richness of a finite positive spanning sets of directions in the context of derivative-free directional methods. A positive spanning set is a set of vectors whose nonnegative linear combinations span the whole space. The present work extends the definition of cosine measure. In particular, the … Read more

A Cutting-Plane Global Optimization Algorithm for a Special Non-Convex Problem

This study establishes the convergence of a cutting-plane algorithm tailored for a specific non-convex optimization problem. The presentation begins with the problem definition, accompanied by the necessary hypotheses that substantiate the application of a cutting plane. Following this, we develop an algorithm designed to tackle the problem. Lastly, we provide a demonstration that the sequence … Read more

Mixed-Integer Linear Optimization for Semi-Supervised Optimal Classification Trees

Decision trees are one of the most popular methods for solving classification problems, mainly because of their good interpretability properties. Moreover, due to advances in recent years in mixed-integer optimization, several models have been proposed to formulate the problem of computing optimal classification trees. The goal is, given a set of labeled points, to split … Read more