The Magic of Nash Social Welfare in Optimization: Do Not Sum, Just Multiply!

In this paper, we explain some key challenges when dealing with a single/multi-objective optimization problem in practice. To overcome these challenges, we present a mathematical program that optimizes a Nash Social Welfare function. We refer to this mathematical program as the Nash Social Welfare Program (NSWP). An interesting property of the NSWP is that it … Read more

Expensive multi-objective optimization of electromagnetic mixing in a liquid metal

This paper presents a novel trust-region method for the optimization of multiple expensive functions. We apply this method to a biobjective optimization problem in fluid mechanics, the optimal mixing of particles in a flow in a closed container. The three-dimensional time-dependent flows are driven by Lorentz forces that are generated by an oscillating permanent magnet … Read more

Objective Selection for Cancer Treatment: An Inverse Optimization Approach

In radiation therapy treatment-plan optimization, selecting a set of clinical objectives that are tractable and parsimonious yet effective is a challenging task. In clinical practice, this is typically done by trial and error based on the treatment planner’s subjective assessment, which often makes the planning process inefficient and inconsistent. We develop the objective selection problem … Read more

Representation of the Pareto front for heterogeneous multi-objective optimization

Optimization problems with multiple objectives which are expensive, i.e. where function evaluations are time consuming, are difficult to solve. Finding at least one locally optimal solution is already a difficult task. In case only one of the objective functions is expensive while the others are cheap, for instance analytically given, this can be used in … Read more

The stochastic multi-gradient algorithm for multi-objective optimization and its application to supervised machine learning

Optimization of conflicting functions is of paramount importance in decision making, and real world applications frequently involve data that is uncertain or unknown, resulting in multi-objective optimization (MOO) problems of stochastic type. We study the stochastic multi-gradient (SMG) method, seen as an extension of the classical stochastic gradient method for single-objective optimization. At each iteration … Read more

Multi-objective optimization models for many-to-one matching problems

This paper is concerned with many-to-one matching problems for assigning residents to hospitals according to their preferences. The stable matching model aims at finding a stable matching, and the assignment game model involves maximizing the total utility; however, these two objectives are incompatible in general. We also focus on a situation where there are predetermined … Read more

Learning to Project in Multi-Objective Binary Linear Programming

In this paper, we investigate the possibility of improving the performance of multi-objective optimization solution approaches using machine learning techniques. Specifically, we focus on multi-objective binary linear programs and employ one of the most effective and recently developed criterion space search algorithms, the so-called KSA, during our study. This algorithm computes all nondominated points of … Read more

Hybrid Rebalancing with Dynamic Hubbing for Free-floating Bike Sharing Using Multi-objective Simulation Optimization

For rebalancing problem of free-floating bike sharing systems, we propose dynamic hubbing (i.e. dynamically determining geofencing areas) and hybrid rebalancing (combining user-based and operator-based strategies) and solve the problem with a novel multi-objective simulation optimization approach. Given historical usage data and real-time bike GPS location information, dynamic geofenced areas (hubs) are determined to encourage users … Read more

Numerical Results for the Multi-objective Trust Region Algorithm MHT

A set of 78 test examples is presented for the trust region method MHT described in J. Thomann, G. Eichfelder, A trust region algorithm for heterogeneous multi-objective optimization, 2018 (available as preprint: http://optimization-online.org/DB_HTML/2018/03/6495.html) . It is designed for multi-objective heterogeneous optimization problems where one of the objective functions is an expensive black-box function, for example … Read more

Best subset selection of factors affecting influenza spread using bi-objective optimization

A typical approach for computing an optimal strategy for non-pharmaceutical interventions during an influenza outbreak is based on statistical ANOVA. In this study, for the first time, we propose to use bi-objective mixed integer linear programming. Our approach employs an existing agent-based simulation model and statistical design of experiments presented in Martinez and Das (2014) … Read more