Stochastic Approximation approach to Stochastic Programming

In this paper we consider optimization problems where the objective function is given in a form of the expectation. A basic difficulty of solving such stochastic optimization problems is that the involved multidimensional integrals (expectations) cannot be computed with high accuracy. The aim of this paper is to compare two computational approaches based on Monte … Read more

Visualizing Branch-and-Bound Algorithms

We present a suite of tools for visualizing the status and progress of branch-and-bound algorithms for mixed integer programming. By integrating these tools with the open-source codes CBC, SYMPHONY, and GLPK, we demonstrate the potential usefulness of visual representations in helping a user predict future progress of the algorithm or analyzing the algorithm’s performance. We … Read more

Computational Experience with a Software Framework for Parallel Integer Programming

In this paper, we discuss the challenges that arise in parallelizing algorithms for solving mixed integer linear programs and introduce a software framework that aims to address these challenges. The framework was designed specifically with support for implementation of relaxation-based branch-and-bound algorithms in mind. Achieving efficiency for such algorithms is particularly challenging and involves a … Read more

Gradient methods for minimizing composite objective function

In this paper we analyze several new methods for solving optimization problems with the objective function formed as a sum of two convex terms: one is smooth and given by a black-box oracle, and another is general but simple and its structure is known. Despite to the bad properties of the sum, such problems, both … Read more

Gradient methods for minimizing composite objective function

In this paper we analyze several new methods for solving optimization problems with the objective function formed as a sum of two convex terms: one is smooth and given by a black-box oracle, and another is general but simple and its structure is known. Despite to the bad properties of the sum, such problems, both … Read more

Classification problems with imprecise data through separating hyperplanes

We consider a supervised classification problem in which the elements to be classified are sets with certain geometrical properties. In particular, this model can be applied to deal with data affected by some kind of noise and in the case of interval-valued data. Two classification rules, a fuzzy one and a crisp one, are defined … Read more

SDLS: a Matlab package for solving conic least-squares problems

This document is an introduction to the Matlab package SDLS (Semi-Definite Least-Squares) for solving least-squares problems over convex symmetric cones. The package is shortly presented through the addressed problem, a sketch of the implemented algorithm, the syntax and calling sequences, a simple numerical example and some more advanced features. The implemented method consists in solving … Read more

Optimal solutions for unrelated parallel machines scheduling problems using convex quadratic reformulations

In this work, we take advantage of the powerful quadratic programming theory to obtain optimal solutions of scheduling problems. We apply a methodology that starts, in contrast to more classical approaches, by formulating three unrelated parallel machine scheduling problems as 0–1 quadratic programs under linear constraints. By construction, these quadratic programs are non-convex. Therefore, before … Read more

A Sample Approximation Approach for Optimization with Probabilistic Constraints

We study approximations of optimization problems with probabilistic constraints in which the original distribution of the underlying random vector is replaced with an empirical distribution obtained from a random sample. We show that such a sample approximation problem with risk level larger than the required risk level will yield a lower bound to the true … Read more