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The affine rank minimization problem consists of finding a matrix of minimum rank that satisfies a given system of linear equality constraints. Such problems have appeared in the literature of a diverse set of fields including system identification and control, Euclidean embedding, and collaborative filtering. Although specific instances can often be solved with specialized algorithms, the general affine rank minimization problem is NP-hard because it contains vector cardinality minimization as a special case. In this paper, we show that if a certain restricted isometry property holds for the linear transformation defining the constraints, the minimum-rank solution can be recovered by solving a convex optimization problem, namely, the minimization of the nuclear norm over the given affine space. We present several random ensembles of equations where the restricted isometry property holds with overwhelming probability, provided the codimension of the subspace is sufficiently large. The techniques used in our analysis have strong parallels in the compressed sensing framework. We discuss how affine rank minimization generalizes this preexisting concept and outline a dictionary relating concepts from cardinality minimization to those of rank minimization. We also discuss several algorithmic approaches to minimizing the nuclear norm and illustrate our results with numerical examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we discuss local uniqueness, continuity, and differentiability properties of solutions of parameterized variational inequalities (generalized equations). To this end we use two types of techniques. One approach consists in formulating variational inequalities in a form of optimization problem based on regularized gap functions, and applying a general theory of perturbation analysis of parameterized optimization problems. Another approach is based on a theory of contingent (outer graphical) derivatives and some results about differentiability properties of metric projections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi-Newton equations play a central role in quasi-Newton methods for optimization and various quasi-Newton equations are available. This paper gives a survey on these quasi Newton equations and studies properties of quasi-Newton methods with updates satisfying different quasi-Newton equations. These include single-step quasi-Newton equations that use only gradient information and that use both gradient and function value information in one step, and multi-step quasi-Newton equations that use the gradient information in last m steps. Main properties of quasi-Newton methods with updates satisfying different quasi-Newton equations are studied. These properties include the finite termination property, invariance, heredity of positive definite updates, consistency of search directions, global convergence and local superlinear convergence properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an extension of previously published work by Bernard O. Koopman to the general case of any number of tasks and any effect function. A systematic method for the numerical calculation of the maximum effect and its corresponding optimum distribution is presented in a form which is also suitable for solution on an automatic digital computer. For the special case of additive returns which saturate, a special graphical or numerical method for any number of tasks is presented with an example worked out in detail A similar method for multiplicative effects is sketched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the adaptive step primal-dual interior point method for linear programming, polynomial algorithms are obtained by computing Newton directions towards targets on the central path, and restricting the iterates to a neighborhood of this central path In this paper, the adaptive step methodology is extended, by considering targets in a certain central region, which contains the usual central path, and subsequently generating iterates in a neighborhood of this region. The size of the central region can vary from the central path to the whole feasible region by choosing a certain parameter. An &scriptO;(√n L) iteration bound is obtained under mild conditions on the choice of the target points. In particular, we leave plenty of room for experimentation with search directions. The practical performance of the new primal-dual interior point method is measured on part of the Netlib test set for various sizes of the central region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on multigrid methods for optimization problems is reviewed. Optimization problems considered include shape design, parameter optimization, anti optimal control problems governed by partial differential equations of elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]