Variational Analysis and Applications to Group Dynamics

In this paper, we establish a new version of Ekeland’s variational principle in a new setting of cone pseudo-quasimetric spaces. In constrast to metric spaces, we do not require that each forward Cauchy sequence is forward convergent and that each forward convergent sequence has the unique forward limit. The motivation of this paper comes from … Read more

Transmission and Generation Investment in Electricity Markets: The Effects of Market Splitting and Network Fee Regimes

We propose an equilibrium model that allows to analyze the long-run impact of the regulatory environment on transmission line expansion by the regulator and investment in generation capacity by private firms in liberalized electricity markets. The model incorporates investment decisions of the transmission operator and private firms in expectation of an energy-only market and cost-based … Read more

Multilevel Optimization Modeling for Risk-Averse Stochastic Programming

Coherent risk measures have become a popular tool for incorporating risk aversion into stochastic optimization models. For dynamic models in which uncertainty is resolved at more than one stage, however, using coherent risk measures within a standard single-level optimization framework becomes problematic. To avoid severe time-consistency difficulties, the current state of the art is to … Read more

Variational analysis in psychological modeling

This paper develops some mathematical models arising in psychology and some other areas of behavioral sciences that are formalized via general preferences with variable ordering structures. Our considerations are based on the recent “variational rationality approach” that unifies numerous theories in different branches of behavioral sciences by using, in particular, worthwhile change and stay dynamics … Read more

Time Consistency Versus Law Invariance in Multistage Stochastic Optimization with Coherent Risk Measures: Multilevel Optimization Modeling and Computational Complexity

Coherent risk measures have become a popular tool for incorporating risk aversion into stochastic optimization models. For dynamic models in which un-certainly is resolved at more than one stage, however, use of coherent risk measures within a standard single-level optimization framework presents the modeler with an uncomfortable choice between two desirable model properties, time consistency … Read more

Using Inexact Gradients in a Multilevel Optimization Algorithm

Many optimization algorithms require gradients of the model functions, but computing accurate gradients can be computationally expensive. We study the implications of using inexact gradients in the context of the multilevel optimization algorithm MGOpt. MGOpt recursively uses (typically cheaper) coarse models to obtain search directions for finer-level models. However, MGOpt requires the gradient on the … Read more

Efficient Cardinality/Mean-Variance Portfolios

A number of variants of the classical Markowitz mean-variance optimization model for portfolio selection have been investigated to render it more realistic. Recently, it has been studied the imposition of a cardinality constraint, setting an upper bound on the number of active positions taken in the portfolio, in an attempt to improve its performance and … Read more

Inexact projected gradient method for vector optimization

In this work, we propose an inexact projected gradient-like method for solving smooth constrained vector optimization problems. In the unconstrained case, we retrieve the steepest descent method introduced by Graña Drummond and Svaiter. In the constrained setting, the method we present extends the exact one proposed by Graña Drummond and Iusem, since it admits relative … Read more

Direct Multisearch for Multiobjective Optimization

In practical applications of optimization it is common to have several conflicting objective functions to optimize. Frequently, these functions are subject to noise or can be of black-box type, preventing the use of derivative-based techniques. We propose a novel multiobjective derivative-free methodology, calling it direct multisearch (DMS), which does not aggregate any of the objective … Read more

Convergence and Descent Properties for a Class of Multilevel Optimization Algorithms

I present a multilevel optimization approach (termed MG/Opt) for the solution of constrained optimization problems. The approach assumes that one has a hierarchy of models, ordered from fine to coarse, of an underlying optimization problem, and that one is interested in finding solutions at the finest level of detail. In this hierarchy of models calculations … Read more