The steepest descent direction for the nonlinear bilevel programming problem

Multilevel optimization problems often arise in various applications (in economics, ecology, power engineering and other areas) when modeling complex systems with a hierarchical structure associated with independent actions of subsystems. The difficulty of analyzing such complex systems requires first of all the study of bilevel models, the management of which would be an integral part of the analysis of more complex systems. In solving bilevel programming problems, an important role is played by the property of partial calmness, the presence of which allows us to reduce the bilevel problem to the classical nonlinear programming problem with a nonsmooth objective function. It is known that linear bilevel programming problems are partially stable. The proof of this property for more complex problems meets difficulties. In particular, our article shows the inaccuracy of some results in this area. The goal of the paper is to obtain some new results in the partial calmness of bilevel programming. In particular, new sufficient conditions for bilevel problems are proved. The results are obtained on the base of Lipschitz-like properties for multivalued mappings. In the paper we propose new sufficient conditions for partial calmness which are based on some modification of the known constraint qualification RCPLD which have been proposed by the researches Andreani, Haeser, Schuverdt and Silva.

An augmented Lagrangian multiplier method based on a CHKS smoothing function for solving nonlinear bilevel programming problems

In this article, we investigate the application of feasible direction method for an optimistic non-linear bilevel programming problem. The convex lower level problem of an optimistic non-linear bilevel programming problem is replaced by relaxed KKT conditions. The feasible direction method developed by Topkis and Veinott [D.M. Topkis and A.F.jun. Veinott, On the convergence of some feasible direction algorithms for nonlinear programming, SIAM J. Control Optim. 5(1967), pp. 268–279] is applied to the auxiliary problem to get a Bouligand stationary point for an optimistic bilevel programming problem.

Multi-parametric programming based algorithms for the global solution of bi-level mixed-integer linear and quadratic programming problems

This article considers bilevel linear programming problems where the coefficients of the objective functions and the constraints in the problem are given as fuzzy parameters. Stackelberg problems and Stackelberg solutions under fuzziness have not been fully discussed so far. New Stackelberg solution concepts under fuzziness, called possibilistic Stackelberg solutions , are proposed by incorporating possibility theory into Stackelberg solutions in non-fuzzy environments. This paper shows some theoretical properties and theorems on the formulated fuzzy bilevel programming problems. It is shown that the proposed possibilistic Stackelberg solutions are obtained by using linear or nonlinear programming techniques. The effectiveness of the proposed models is demonstrated by numerical experiments using transportation problems where the upper-level decision maker is a buyer and the lower-level one is a supplier.

In this article, we consider bilevel optimization problems with discrete lower level and continuous upper level problems. Taking into account both approaches (optimistic and pessimistic) which have been developed in the literature to deal with this type of problem, we derive some conditions for the existence of solutions. In the case where the lower level is a parametric linear problem, the bilevel problem is transformed into a continuous one. After that, we are able to discuss local optimality conditions using tools of variational analysis for each of the different approaches. Finally, we consider a simple application of our results namely the bilevel programming problem with the minimum spanning tree problem in the lower level.

By handling the travel cost function artfully, the authors formulate the transportation mixed network design problem (MNDP) as a mixed-integer, nonlinear bilevel programming problem, in which the lower-level problem, comparing with that of conventional bilevel DNDP models, is not a side constrained user equilibrium assignment problem, but a standard user equilibrium assignment problem. Then, the bilevel programming model for MNDP is reformulated as a continuous version of bilevel programming problem by the continuation method. By virtue of the optimal-value function, the lower-level assignment problem can be expressed as a nonlinear equality constraint. Therefore, the bilevel programming model for MNDP can be transformed into an equivalent single-level optimization problem. By exploring the inherent nature of the MNDP, the optimal-value function for the lower-level equilibrium assignment problem is proved to be continuously differentiable and its functional value and gradient can be obtained efficiently. Thus, a continuously differentiable but still nonconvex optimization formulation of the MNDP is created, and then a locally convergent algorithm is proposed by applying penalty function method. The inner loop of solving the subproblem is mainly to implement an all-or-nothing assignment. Finally, a small-scale transportation network and a large-scale network are presented to verify the proposed model and algorithm.

A neural network approach for solving nonlinear bilevel programming problem

Presolving linear bilevel optimization problems

This paper is concerned with general nonlinear nonconvex bilevel programming problems (BLPP). We derive necessary and sufficient conditions at a local solution and investigate the stability and sensitivity analysis at a local solution in the BLPP. We then explore an approach in which a bundle method is used in the upper-level problem with subgradient information from the lower-level problem. Two algorithms are proposed to solve the general nonlinear BLPP and are shown to converge to regular points of the BLPP under appropriate conditions. The theoretical analysis conducted in this paper seems to indicate that a sensitivity-based approach is rather promising for solving general nonlinear BLPP.

Given a set of candidate road projects with associated costs, finding the best subset with respect to a limited budget is known as the discrete network design problem (DNDP). The DNDP is often characterised as a bilevel programming problem which is known to be NP-hard. Despite a plethora of research, due to the combinatorial complexity, the literature addressing this problem for large-sized networks is scarce. To this end, we first transform the bilevel problem into a single-level problem by relaxing it to a system-optimal traffic flow. As such, the problem turns to be a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem. Secondly, we develop an efficient Benders decomposition algorithm to solve the ensuing MINLP problem. The proposed methodology is applied to three examples, a pedagogical network, Sioux Falls and a real-size network representing the City of Winnipeg, Canada. Numerical tests on the network of Winnipeg at various budget levels demonstrate promising results.

Interior point methods provide an attractive class of approaches for solving linear, quadratic and nonlinear programming problems, due to their excellent efficiency and wide applicability. In this paper, we consider PDE-constrained optimization problems with bound constraints on the state and control variables, and their representation on the discrete level as quadratic programming problems. To tackle complex problems and achieve high accuracy in the solution, one is required to solve matrix systems of huge scale resulting from Newton iteration, and hence fast and robust methods for these systems are required. We present preconditioned iterative techniques for solving a number of these problems using Krylov subspace methods, considering in what circumstances one may predict rapid convergence of the solvers in theory, as well as the solutions observed from practical computations.

BackgroundOptimization procedures to identify gene knockouts for targeted biochemical overproduction have been widely in use in modern metabolic engineering. Flux balance analysis (FBA) framework has provided conceptual simplifications for genome-scale dynamic analysis at steady states. Based on FBA, many current optimization methods for targeted bio-productions have been developed under the maximum cell growth assumption. The optimization problem to derive gene knockout strategies recently has been formulated as a bi-level programming problem in OptKnock for maximum targeted bio-productions with maximum growth rates. However, it has been shown that knockout mutants in fact reach the steady states with the minimization of metabolic adjustment (MOMA) from the corresponding wild-type strains instead of having maximal growth rates after genetic or metabolic intervention. In this work, we propose a new bi-level computational framework--MOMAKnock--which can derive robust knockout strategies under the MOMA flux distribution approximation.MethodsIn this new bi-level optimization framework, we aim to maximize the production of targeted chemicals by identifying candidate knockout genes or reactions under phenotypic constraints approximated by the MOMA assumption. Hence, the targeted chemical production is the primary objective of MOMAKnock while the MOMA assumption is formulated as the inner problem of constraining the knockout metabolic flux to be as close as possible to the steady-state phenotypes of wide-type strains. As this new inner problem becomes a quadratic programming problem, a novel adaptive piecewise linearization algorithm is developed in this paper to obtain the exact optimal solution to this new bi-level integer quadratic programming problem for MOMAKnock.ResultsOur new MOMAKnock model and the adaptive piecewise linearization solution algorithm are tested with a small E. coli core metabolic network and a large-scale iAF1260 E. coli metabolic network. The derived knockout strategies are compared with those from OptKnock. Our preliminary experimental results show that MOMAKnock can provide improved targeted productions with more robust knockout strategies.

<p>There exist several methods for solving fuzzy linear or nonlinear programming problems under positivity fuzzy variables and restricted fuzzy coefficients. Due to the limitation of these methods, they can’t be applied for solving fully fuzzy linear or non- linear programming problems with unrestricted fuzzy coefficients and fuzzy variables. In this paper an efficient method to find the fuzzy optimal solution for fully fuzzy quadratic programming (FFQP) problem with unrestricted variables and parameters has been proposed. All the coefficients and decision variables of both objective functions and the constraints are triangular fuzzy numbers. The proposed method is based on converted FFQP problem into crisp quadratic programming (CQP) problem. Finally an illustrative numerical example has been given to clarify the proposed solution method.</p>

: Several algorithms for solving problems in linear, quadratic, and nonlinear programming, network flows, and facilities location were developed and analyzed. Results include: (1) The analysis of the computational complexity of the problem of determining an optimally sparse representation of the null space of a matrix, and the development of worst-case bounds for the shadow-vertex simplex algorithm and several heuristics for distance constrained discrete facility location problems and conditional covering problems; (2) The development of efficient algorithms for dense and sparse assignment problems, strictly convex quadratic programming problems, and a nonlinear programming problem that arises when maximizing a correlation coefficient subject to linear constraints; and (3) The application of iterative methods to large sparse equality-constraind quadratic programs and the development of multiple constraint deletion strategies for active-set algorithms for linearly consrained nonlinear programming problems. (Author)