General risk measures for robust machine learning

A wide array of machine learning problems are formulated as the minimization of the expectation of a convex loss function on some parameter space. Since the probability distribution of the data of interest is usually unknown, it is is often estimated from training sets, which may lead to poor out-of-sample performance. In this work, we … Read more

Tractable semi-algebraic approximation using Christoffel-Darboux kernel

We provide a new method to approximate a (possibly discontinuous) function using Christoffel-Darboux kernels. Our knowledge about the unknown multivariate function is in terms of finitely many moments of the Young measure supported on the graph of the function. Such an input is available when approximating weak (or measure-valued) solution of optimal control problems, entropy … Read more

CONICOPF: Conic relaxations for AC optimal power flow computations

Computational speed and global optimality are key needs for practical algorithms for the optimal power flow problem. Two convex relaxations offer a favorable trade-off between the standard second-order cone and the standard semidefinite relaxations for large-scale meshed networks in terms of optimality gap and computation time: the tight-and-cheap relaxation (TCR) and the quadratic convex relaxation … Read more

Status Determination by Interior-Point Methods for Convex Optimization Problems in Domain-Driven Form

We study the geometry of convex optimization problems given in a Domain-Driven form and categorize possible statuses of these problems using duality theory. Our duality theory for the Domain-Driven form, which accepts both conic and non-conic constraints, lets us determine and certify statuses of a problem as rigorously as the best approaches for conic formulations … Read more

Pricing in Multi-Interval Real-Time Markets

This paper examines multi-interval real-time markets in the context of US independent system operators (ISOs). We show that current ISO implementations that settle only the upcoming interval of the multi-interval solution can create incentive problems. Fundamentally, this is the result of each successive optimization problem treating historical losses as sunk costs. To solve the incentive … Read more

On tradeoffs between treatment time and plan quality of volumetric-modulated arc therapy with sliding-window delivery

The purpose of this study is to give an exact formulation of optimization of volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) with sliding-window delivery, and to investigate the plan quality effects of decreasing the number of sliding-window sweeps made on the 360-degree arc for a faster VMAT treatment. In light of the exact formulation, we interpret an algorithm … Read more

Discerning the linear convergence of ADMM for structured convex optimization through the lens of variational analysis

Despite the rich literature, the linear convergence of alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) has not been fully understood even for the convex case. For example, the linear convergence of ADMM can be empirically observed in a wide range of applications, while existing theoretical results seem to be too stringent to be satisfied or too … Read more

Understanding the Acceleration Phenomenon via High-Resolution Differential Equations

Gradient-based optimization algorithms can be studied from the perspective of limiting or- dinary differential equations (ODEs). Motivated by the fact that existing ODEs do not distin- guish between two fundamentally different algorithms—Nesterov’s accelerated gradient method for strongly convex functions (NAG-SC) and Polyak’s heavy-ball method—we study an alter- native limiting process that yields high-resolution ODEs. We … Read more

Exploiting Low-Rank Structure in Semidefinite Programming by Approximate Operator Splitting

In contrast with many other convex optimization classes, state-of-the-art semidefinite programming solvers are yet unable to efficiently solve large scale instances. This work aims to reduce this scalability gap by proposing a novel proximal algorithm for solving general semidefinite programming problems. The proposed methodology, based on the primal-dual hybrid gradient method, allows the presence of … Read more

A proximal ADMM with the Broyden family for Convex Optimization Problems

Alternating direction methods of multipliers (ADMM) have been well studied and effectively used in various application fields. The classical ADMM must solve two subproblems exactly at each iteration. To overcome the difficulty of computing the exact solution of the subproblems, some proximal terms are added to the subproblems. Recently, Gu and Yamashita studied a special … Read more