Search

Abstract: In 1.9 of the paper [A. Hahn, A Hermitian Morita theorem for algebras with anti-structure, J. Algebra 93 (1985) 215–235], should be replaced by . This leads to minor changes in the rest of the paper where the ring should be replaced by its opposite and vice versa. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper, an ancient Chinese algorithm is used to estimate the length constant of a long cooling fin, and an approximate solution formulation is obtained. The obtained results show that this method is a simple but promising method without any requirement for advanced calculus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with undiscounted infinite stage two-person zero-sum stochastic games with finite state and action spaces. It was recently shown that such games possess a value. But in general there are no optimal strategies. We prove that for each player there exists a nonempty set of easy initial states, i.e. starting states for which the player possesses an optimal stationary strategy. This result is proved with the aid of facts derived by Bewley and Kohlberg for the limit discount equation for stochastic games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grey wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm is a new emerging algorithm that is based on the social hierarchy of grey wolves as well as their hunting and cooperation strategies. Introduced in 2014, this algorithm has been used by a large number of researchers and designers, such that the number of citations to the original paper exceeded many other algorithms. In a recent study by Niu et al., one of the main drawbacks of this algorithm for optimizing real‐world problems was introduced. In summary, they showed that GWO's performance degrades as the optimal solution of the problem diverges from 0. In this paper, by introducing a straightforward modification to the original GWO algorithm, that is, neglecting its social hierarchy, the authors were able to largely eliminate this defect and open a new perspective for future use of this algorithm. The efficiency of the proposed method was validated by applying it to benchmark and real‐world engineering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problem of discovering the structure of a fitness function from binary strings to the reals under the assumption of bounded epistasis. Two loci (string positions) are epistatically Linked if the effect of changing the allele (value) at one locus depends on the allele at the other locus. Similarly, a group of loci are epistatically linked if the effect of changing the allele at one locus depends on the alleles at all other loci of the group. Under the assumption that the size of such groups of loci are bounded, and assuming that the function is given only as a "black box function", this paper presents and analyzes a randomized algorithm that finds the complete epistatic structure of the function in the form of the Walsh coefficients of the function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new sequential penalty algorithm, based on the L[sub ∞] exact penalty function, is proposed for a general nonlinear constrained optimization problem. The algorithm has the following characteristics: it can start from an arbitrary initial point; the feasibility of the subproblem is guaranteed; the penalty parameter is adjusted automatically; global convergence without any regularity assumption is proved. The update formula of the penalty parameter is new. It is proved that the algorithm proposed in this paper behaves equivalently to the standard SQP method after sufficiently many iterations. Hence, the local convergence results of the standard SQP method can be applied to this algorithm. Preliminary numerical experiments show the efficiency and stability of the algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vector quantization is known widely as a highly efficient coding for image and speech signals. The algorithm proposed by Linde, Buzo, and Gray (the LBG algorithm) is the most fundamental design procedure for this kind of quantizer. However, the LBG algorithm usually gives only the local minimum of the distortion measure based on the quantization error. With such a background, this paper introduces the simulated annealing procedure into the design of the vector quantizer based on the LBG algorithm, which is known as the effective method for the NP-complete probabilistic combinational optimization problem. The widely employed mean-square error is adopted as the distortion measure. Various approaches are considered to derive the global minimum of the measure. In other words, this paper is based on the LBG algorithm and presents a design procedure for the vector quantizer (more generally, the vector quantizer considering the channel error) by introducing simulated annealing. By this approach, a vector quantizer with a better performance than the traditional design as well as a more ideal highly efficient coding is realized. A simulated experiment is executed for the standard image data (SIDBA), and it is demonstrated that the simulated annealing is useful in the design of the vector quantizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a classic topic of social network analysis to evaluate the importance of nodes and identify the node that takes on the role of core or bridge in a network. Because a single indicator is not sufficient to analyze multiple characteristics of a node, it is a natural solution to apply multiple indicators that should be selected carefully. An intuitive idea is to select some indicators with weak correlations to efficiently assess different characteristics of a node. However, this paper shows that it is much better to select the indicators with strong correlations. Because indicator correlation is based on the statistical analysis of a large number of nodes, the particularity of an important node will be outlined if its indicator relationship doesn't comply with the statistical correlation. Therefore, the paper selects the multiple indicators including degree, ego-betweenness centrality and eigenvector centrality to evaluate the importance and the role of a node. The importance of a node is equal to the normalized sum of its three indicators. A candidate for core or bridge is selected from the great degree nodes or the nodes with great ego-betweenness centrality respectively. Then, the role of a candidate is determined according to the difference between its indicators' relationship with the statistical correlation of the overall network. Based on 18 real networks and 3 kinds of model networks, the experimental results show that the proposed methods perform quite well in evaluating the importance of nodes and in identifying the node role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel algorithm for solving the classic Stefan problem is proposed in the paper. Instead of front tracking, we preset the moving interface locations and use these location coordinates as the grid points to find out the arrival time of moving interface respectively. Through this approach, the difficulty in mesh generation can be avoided completely. The simulation shows the numerical result is well coincident with the exact solution, implying the new approach performes well in solving this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider approximation algorithms for optimizing a generic multi-variate homogeneous polynomial function, subject to homogeneous quadratic constraints. Such optimization models have wide applications, e.g., in signal processing, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), data training, approximation theory, and portfolio selection. Since polynomial functions are non-convex, the problems under consideration are all NP-hard in general. In this paper we shall focus on polynomial-time approximation algorithms. In particular, we first study optimization of a multi-linear tensor function over the Cartesian product of spheres. We shall propose approximation algorithms for such problem and derive worst-case performance ratios, which are shown to be dependent only on the dimensions of the model. The methods are then extended to optimize a generic multi-variate homogeneous polynomial function with spherical constraint. Likewise, approximation algorithms are proposed with provable approximation performance ratios. Furthermore, the constraint set is relaxed to be an intersection of co-centered ellipsoids; namely, we consider maximization of a homogeneous polynomial over the intersection of ellipsoids centered at the origin, and propose polynomial-time approximation algorithms with provable worst-case performance ratios. Numerical results are reported, illustrating the effectiveness of the approximation algorithms studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common thread in all of the recent results concerning the testing of dense graphs is the use of Szemerédi's regularity lemma. In this paper we show that in some sense this is not a coincidence. Our first result is that the property defined by having any given Szemerédi-partition is testable with a constant number of queries. Our second and main result is a purely combinatorial characterization of the graph properties that are testable with a constant number of queries. This characterization (roughly) says that a graph property P can be tested with a constant number of queries if and only if testing P can be reduced to testing the property of satisfying one of finitely many Szemerédi-partitions. This means that in some sense, testing for Szemerédi-partitions is as hard as testing any testable graph property. We thus resolve one of the main open problems in the area of property-testing, which was first raised by Goldreich, Goldwasser, and Ron [J. ACM, 45 (1998), pp. 653-750] in the paper that initiated the study of graph property-testing. This characterization also gives an intuitive explanation as to what makes a graph property testable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes several globally convergent geometric optimization algorithms on Riemannian manifolds, which extend some existing geometric optimization techniques. Since any set of smooth constraints in the Euclidean space Rn (corresponding to constrained optimization) and the Rn space itself (corresponding to unconstrained optimization) are both special Riemannian manifolds, and since these algorithms are developed on general Riemannian manifolds, the techniques discussed in this paper provide a uniform framework for constrained and unconstrained optimization problems. Unlike some earlier works, the new algorithms have less restrictions in both convergence results and in practice. For example, global minimization in the one-dimensional search is not required. All the algorithms addressed in this paper are globally convergent. For some special Riemannian manifold other than Rn, the newalgorithms are very efficient. Convergence rates are obtained. Applications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs that the no free lunch theorem says that there is no single evolutionary algorithm (EA) which can solve all possible optimization problems efficiently. Over the entire problem space, the performance of all EAs is equivalent. For a given optimization problem, people need to focus on designing problem-oriented algorithms in order to improve the algorithm's performance. For any NP-hard problem, people only have limited heuristic knowledge to use when designing EAs that solve it. This paper, aims to discover the role of heuristic knowledge in EAs. Through a comparative study of three different EAs for solving the node covering problem, the paper investigates the role of heuristic knowledge in EAs finding a feasible solution and the optimal solution.

Waveform design is a pivotal component of the fully adaptive radar construct. In this paper, we consider waveform design for radar space time adaptive processing (STAP), accounting for the waveform dependence of the clutter correlation matrix. Due to this dependence, in general, the joint problem of receiver filter optimization and radar waveform design becomes an intractable, nonconvex optimization problem, Nevertheless, it is, however, shown to be individually convex either in the filter or in the waveform variables. We derive constrained versions of a) the alternating minimization algorithm, b) proximal alternating minimization, and c) the constant modulus alternating minimization, which, at each step, iteratively optimizes either the STAP filter or the waveform independently. A fast and slow time model permits waveform design in radar STAP, but the primary bottleneck is the computational complexity of the algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract This paper proposes a novel decomposition method based on user-preference and developed a variation of the decomposition based multi-objective optimization algorithm (MOEA/D) targeting only solutions in a small region of the Pareto-front defined by the preference information supplied by the decision maker (DM). This is particularly advantageous for solving multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs) with more than 3 objectives, i.e., many-objective optimization problems (MaOPs). As the number of objectives increases, the ability of an EMO algorithm to approximate the entire Pareto front (PF) is rapidly diminishing. In this paper, we first propose a novel scalarizing function making use of a series of new reference points derived from a reference point specified by the DM in the preference model. Based on this scalarizing function, we then develop a user-preference-based EMO algorithm, namely R-MOEA/D. One key merit of R-MOEA/D is that it does not rely on an estimation of the ideal point, which may impact significantly the performances of state-of-the-art decomposition based EMO algorithms. Our experimental results on multi-objective and many-objective benchmark problems have shown that R-MOEA/D provides a more direct and efficient search towards the preferred PF region, resulting in competitive performances. In an interactive setting when the DM changes the reference point during optimization, R-MOEA/D has a faster response speed and performance than the compared algorithms, showing its robustness and adaptability to changes of the preference model. Furthermore, the effectiveness of R-MOEA/D is verified on a real-world problem of reservoir flood control operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Necessary conditions for the existence of a super‐simple, decomposable, near‐resolvable (v,4,6)‐balanced incomplete block design (BIBD) whose 2‐component subdesigns are both near‐resolvable (v,4,3)‐BIBDs are v≡1 (mod 4) and v≥17. In this paper, we show that these necessary conditions are sufficient. Using these designs, we also establish that the necessary conditions for the existence of a super‐simple near‐resolvable (v,4,3)‐RBIBD, namely v≡1 (mod 4) and v≥9, are sufficient. A few new pairwise balanced designs are also given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with equilibrium problems with nonlinear constraints. Exploiting a gap function which relies on a polyhedral approximation of the feasible region, we propose two descent methods. They are both based on the minimization of a suitable exact penalty function, but they use different rules for updating the penalization parameter and they rely on different types of line search. The convergence of both algorithms is proved under standard assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bayesian network classifiers (BNCs) have demonstrated competitive classification performance in a variety of real-world applications. A highly scalable BNC with high expressivity is extremely desirable. This paper proposes Redundant Dependence Elimination (RDE) for improving the classification performance and expressivity of k-dependence Bayesian classifier (KDB). To demonstrate the unique characteristics of each case, RDE identifies redundant conditional dependencies and then substitute/remove them. The learned personalized k-dependence Bayesian Classifier (PKDB) can achieve high-confidence conditional probabilities, and graphically interpret the dependency relationships between attributes. Two thyroid cancer datasets and four other cancer datasets from the UCI machine learning repository are selected for our experimental study. The experimental results prove the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in terms of zero-one loss, bias, variance and AUC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a unique and more distinctive encryption algorithm is proposed. This is based on the complexity of highly nonlinear S box in Flesnelet domain. The nonlinear pattern is transformed further to enhance the confusion in the dummy data using Fresnelet technique. The security level of the encrypted image boosts using the algebra of Galois field in Fresnelet domain. At first level, the Fresnelet transform is used to propagate the given information with desired wavelength at specified distance. It decomposes given secret data into four complex subbands. These complex sub-bands are separated into two components of real subband data and imaginary subband data. At second level, the net subband data, produced at the first level, is deteriorated to non-linear diffused pattern using the unique S-box defined on the Galois field . In the diffusion process, the permuted image is substituted via dynamic algebraic S-box substitution. We prove through various analysis techniques that the proposed scheme enhances the cipher security level, extensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces novel numerical solution strategies for generalized semi-infinite optimization problems (GSIP), a class of mathematical optimization problems which occur naturally in the context of design centering problems, robust optimization problems, and many fields of engineering science. GSIPs can be regarded as bilevel optimization problems, where a parametric lower-level maximization problem has to be solved in order to check feasibility of the upper level minimization problem. The current paper discusses several strategies to reformulate this class of problems into equivalent finite minimization problems by exploiting the concept of Wolfe duality for convex lower level problems. Here, the main contribution is the discussion of the non-degeneracy of the corresponding formulations under various assumptions. Finally, these non-degenerate reformulations of the original GSIP allow us to apply standard nonlinear optimization algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe the BIBasis package designed for REDUCE and Macaulay2 computer algebra systems, which allows one to compute Boolean involutive bases and Gröbner bases. The implementations and user interfaces of the package for both systems are described in the respective sections of the paper. Also, we present results of comparisons of BIBasis with other packages and algorithms for constructing Boolean Gröbner bases available in the computer algebra systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel filled function is given in this paper to find a global minima for a nonsmooth constrained optimization problem. First, a modified concept of the filled function for nonsmooth constrained global optimization is introduced, and a filled function, which makes use of the idea of the filled function for unconstrained optimization and penalty function for constrained optimization, is proposed. Then, a solution algorithm based on the proposed filled function is developed. At last, some preliminary numerical results are reported. The results show that the proposed approach is promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper suggests constraints on the coefficients ai, bi, ci j of the bilinear continuous-time input-output model that yield generalized state equations with input derivative order lower than that in the input-output equations. In the limiting case when one removes the input derivatives altogether, these conditions provide a solution of the realizability problem. The new state coordinates are found step by step. We first find a coordinate transformation allowing the reduction of the maximal order of the input time derivatives by one and write the corresponding state equations. At the second step we find the next coordinate transformation to lower the maximal order of input time derivative in the new state equations, etc. At each step we check, what condition the coefficients should satisfy to make the next step possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proximal-point algorithms (PPAs) are classical solvers for convex optimization problems and monotone variational inequalities (VIs). The proximal term in existing PPAs usually is the gradient of a certain function. This paper presents a class of PPA-based methods for monotone VIs. For a given current point, a proximal point is obtained via solving a PPA-like subproblem whose proximal term is linear but may not be the gradient of any functions. The new iterate is updated via an additional slight calculation. Global convergence of the method is proved under the same mild assumptions as the original PPA. Finally, profiting from the less restrictions on the linear proximal terms, we propose some parallel splitting augmented Lagrangian methods for structured variational inequalities with separable operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the interaction between Semiotic choices and the presentation and solution of a family of contemporary mathematical problems centered around the so-called 'stable marriage problem'. I investigate how a socially restrictive choice of signs impacts mathematical production both in terms of problem formation and of solutions. I further note how the choice of gendered language ends up constructing a reality, which duplicates the very structural framework that it imported into mathematical analysis in the first place. I go on to point out some semiotic lines of flight from this interlocking grip of mathematics and gendered language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The k-out-of-n system structure is a very popular type of redundancy in fault-tolerant systems, with wide applications in both industrial and military systems. In this paper, the modeling, application and reliability evaluation of k-out-of-n systems are studied for the case where the components and the system have multiple performance levels. A multi-state k-out-of-n system model is proposed that allows different requirements on the number of components for different state levels, and, very importantly, more practical engineering systems can fit into this model. The multiple states in the model can be interpreted in two ways: (i) multiple levels of capacity; and (ii) multiple failure modes. Application examples of the proposed multi-state k-out-of-n system model are given under each of the interpretations. An approach is presented for efficient reliability evaluation of multi-state k-out-of-n systems with identically and independently distributed components. A recursive algorithm is proposed for reliability evaluation of multi-state k-out-of-n systems with independent components. Efficiency investigations show that both of the reliability evaluation approaches are efficient. The multi-state k-out-of-n system model with a constant k value, which is a special case of the general multi-state k-out-of-n system model, has been studied for a long time, but only on the theoretical stage. A practical application of this model is presented in this paper as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of RAIRO -- Operations Research is the property of EDP Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A continuous location problem in which a firm wants to set up a single new facility in a competitive environment is considered. Other facilities offering the same product or service already exist in the area. Both the location and the quality of the new facility are to be found so as to maximize the profit obtained by the firm. This is a hard-to-solve global optimization problem. An evolutionary algorithm called Universal Evolutionary Global Optimizer (UEGO) seems to be the best procedure to cope with it, but the algorithm needs several hours of CPU time for solving large instances. In this paper, four parallelizations of UEGO are presented. They all are coarse-grain methods which differ in their migratory policies. A computational study is carried out to compare the performance of the parallel algorithms. The results show that one of the parallelizations always gives the best objective function value and has an almost linear speed-up for up to 16 processing elements for large instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a new class of memory gradient methods for unconstrained optimization problems and develop some useful global convergence properties under some mild conditions. In the new algorithms, trust region approach is used to guarantee the global convergence. Numerical results show that some memory gradient methods are stable and efficient in practical computation. In particular, some memory gradient methods can be reduced to the BB method in some special cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extended Heaviside calculus proposed by Péraire in a recent paper is similar to a generalization of the Laplace transform proposed by the present author. This similarity will be illustrated by analysis of an example supplied by Péraire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central issue in this paper is to transmit a quantum state in such a way that after some decoherence occurs, most of the information can be restored by a suitable decoding operation. For this purpose, we incorporate redundancy by mapping a given initial quantum state to a messenger state on a larger dimensional Hilbert space via a C* -algebra embedding. Our noise model for the transmission is a phase damping channel which admits a noiseless subsystem or decoherence-free subspace. More precisely, the transmission channel is obtained from convex combinations of a set of lowest rank yes/no measurements that leave a component of the messenger state unchanged. The objective of our encoding is to distribute quantum information optimally across the noise-susceptible component of the transmission when the noiseless component is not large enough to contain all the quantum information to be transmitted. We derive simple geometric conditions for optimal encoding and construct examples of such encodings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present an algorithm which, for a given compact orientable irreducible boundary irreducible 3-manifold M, verifies whether M contains an essential orientable surface (possibly, with boundary), whose genus is at most N. The algorithm is based on Haken’s theory of normal surfaces, and on a trick suggested by Jaco and consisting in estimating the mean length of boundary curves in an unknown essential surface of a given genus in the given manifold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider algorithms for constructing n-terms approximations with nonnegative coefficients. The convergence theorem is proved for a “positive” analog of the Pure Greedy Algorithm. We establish a condition on the sequence of weakness coefficients which is sufficient for the convergence of the Positive Weak Greedy Algorithm. This condition is also necessary for the class of monotone sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present in this paper the algorithm which performs the translation of MSC'2000 diagrams into Petri net modulo strong bisimulation. The correctness of this algorithm is justified. Here we supplement theMSC'2000 standard with the formal definition of the MSC element by means of process algebra. This translation algorithm is the part of the automated verification system which formally specifies and verifies a designed software or hardware system specified in the MSC language and is presented in [1] and [2]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The filter generator is an important building block in many stream ciphers. The generator consists of a linear feedback shift register of length n that generates an m-sequence of period 2′ - 1 filtered through a Boolean function of degree d that combines bits from the shift register and creates an output bit zt at any time t. The previous best attacks aimed at reconstructing the initial state from an observed keystream, have essentially reduced the problem to solving a nonlinear system of D = (Multiple line equation(s) cannot be represented in ASCII text) (i) equations in n unknowns using techniques based on linear algebra. This attack needs about D bits of keystream and the system can be solved in complexity O (Dω), where ω can be taken to be Strassen's reduction exponent ω = log2 (7) ≈ 2.807. This paper describes a new algorithm that recovers the initial state of most filter generators after observing O(D) keystream bits with complexity O((D - n)/2) ≈ O(D), after a pre-computation with complexity O(D(log2 D)³). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection of contacts between three-dimensional (3D) blocks is a key problem in three-dimensional distinct element analysis. In this paper, the limitations of the c–p method are discussed. The writers have also put forward the “penetration edges method” for the detection of contacts in 3D blocks system. The contact relations between two 3D blocks are classified into seven types and 3D contact detection is determined by the contact type. The principle of this new approach is simple to implement and can overcome the limitation of the c–p method as discovered in this study. Limited case studies have indicated that the present algorithm is as efficient as the c–p method but is free from the limitation of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we first review the definitions of crossed module [10], pullback crossed module and cat¹-object in the category of commutative algebras. We then describe a certain pullback of cat¹-commutative algebras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problem of minimization of a nonsmooth function under general nonsmooth constraints when no derivatives of the objective or constraint functions are available. We introduce the mesh adaptive direct search (MADS) class of algorithms which extends the generalized pattern search (GPS) class by allowing local exploration, called polling, in an asymptotically dense set of directions in the space of optimization variables. This means that under certain hypotheses, including a weak constraint qualification due to Rockafellar, MADS can treat constraints by the extreme barrier approach of setting the objective to infinity for infeasible points and treating the problem as unconstrained. The main GPS convergence result is to identify limit points x0302;, where the Clarke generalized derivatives are nonnegative in a finite set of directions, called refining directions. Although in the unconstrained case, nonnegative combinations of these directions span the whole space, the fact that there can only be finitely many GPS refining directions limits rigorous justification of the barrier approach to finitely many linear constraints for GPS. The main result of this paper is that the general MADS framework is flexible enough to allow the generation of an asymptotically dense set of refining directions along which the Clarke derivatives are nonnegative. We propose an instance of MADS for which the refining directions are dense in the hypertangent cone at x0302; with probability 1 whenever the iterates associated with the refining directions converge to a single x0302;. The instance of MADS is compared to versions of GPS on some test problems. We also illustrate the limitation of our results with examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper. the design problem of the dynamic output feedback controller for the asymptotic stabilization of a class of linear delay differential systems of the neutral type is considered. A criterion for the existence of such controller is derived based on the matrix inequality approach combined with the Lyapunov method. A parametrized characterization of the controller is given in terms of the feasible solutions to certain matrix inequalities, which can be solved by various convex optimization algorithms. A numerical example is given to illustrate the proposed design method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes and explains in depth why and when the multiobjective approach to constraint handling is expected to work or fail. Furthermore, an improved evolutionary algorithm based on evolution strategies and differential variation is proposed. There have been many methods proposed for handling constraints in evolutionary optimization, including the penalty function method, special representations and operators, co-evolutionary method, repair method, multiobjective method, etc. The penalty function method, due to its simplicity, is by far the most widely studied and used in handling constraints. The introduction of a penalty term enables the transformation of a constrained optimization problem into a series of unconstrained ones.

This paper points out that meta-heuristics should have not only robustness and adaptability to problems with different structure but also adjustability of parameters included in their algorithms. Particle swarm optimization (PSO), whose concept began as a simulation of a simplified social milieu, is known as one of the most powerful optimization methods for solving nonconvex continuous optimization problems. Then, in order to improve adjustability, a new parameter is introduced into PSO on the basis of the proximate optimality principle (POP). In this paper, we propose adaptive PSO and the effectiveness and the feasibility of the proposed approach are demonstrated on simulations using some typical nonconvex optimization problems. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 151(3): 41–49, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20077 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property testing is a relaxation of classical decision problems which aims at distinguishing between functions having a predetermined property and functions being far from any function having the property. In this paper we present a novel framework for analyzing property testing algorithms. Our framework is based on a connection of property testing and a new class of problems which we call abstract combinatorial programs. We show that if the problem of testing a property can be reduced to an abstract combinatorial program of small dimension, then the property has an efficient tester. We apply our framework to a variety of problems. We present efficient property testing algorithms for geometric clustering problems, for the reversal distance problem, and for graph and hypergraph coloring problems. We also prove that, informally, any hereditary graph property can be efficiently tested if and only if it can be reduced to an abstract combinatorial program of small size. Our framework allows us to analyze all our testers in a unified way, and the obtained complexity bounds either match or improve the previously known bounds. Furthermore, even if the asymptotic complexity of the testers is not improved, the obtained proofs are significantly simpler than the previous ones. We believe that our framework will help to understand the structure of efficiently testable properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new method for the simultaneous learning of a function and its derivative is presented. The method, setting out the problem inside of the Support Vector Machine (SVM) framework, relies on the kernel-based Support Vector expansion. The resultant optimization problem is solved by a computationally efficient Iterative Re-Weighted Least Squares (IRWLS) algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper, a new trust region algorithm is given for nonlinear inequality constrained optimization problems. Motivated by a dual problem introduced by Han and Mangasarian [Han, S. P., Mangasarian, O. L. (1983). A dual differentiable exact penalty function. Math. Programming 25:293-306], which is a nonnegatively constrained maximization problem, we construct a trust region algorithm for solving the dual problem. At each iteration, we only need to minimize a quadratic subproblem with simple bound constraints. Under the condition that the iterate sequence generated by the algorithm is contained in some bounded closed set, any accumulation point of the sequence is a Karush- Kuhn-Tucker point of the original problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a nonmonotone trust-region algorithm for the solution of optimization problems with general nonlinear equality constraints and simple bounds. Under a constant rank assumption on the gradients of the active constraints, we analyze the global convergence of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the problem of minimizing the sum of Euclidean norms (MSN), most existing quadratically convergent algorithms require a strict complementarity assumption. However, this assumption is not satisfied for a number of MSN problems. In this paper, we present a globally and quadratically convergent algorithm for the MSN problem. In particular, the quadratic convergence result is obtained without assuming strict complementarity. Examples without strictly complementary solutions are given to show that our algorithm can indeed achieve quadratic convergence. Preliminary numerical results are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]