We consider the problem of finding the unconstrained global minimum of a realvalued polynomial p(x) : R R, as well as the global minimum of p(x), in a compact set K defined by polynomial inequalities. It is shown that this problem reduces to solving an (often finite) sequence of convex linear matrix inequality (LMI) problems. A notion of Karush--Kuhn--Tucker polynomials is introduced in a global optimality condition. Some illustrative examples are provided. Key words. global optimization, theory of moments and positive polynomials, semidefinite programming AMS subject classifications. 90C22, 90C25 PII. S1052623400366802 1.

. The satisfiability (SAT) problem is a core problem in mathematical logic and computing theory. In practice, SAT is fundamental in solving many problems in automated reasoning, computer-aided design, computeraided manufacturing, machine vision, database, robotics, integrated circuit design, computer architecture design, and computer network design. Traditional methods treat SAT as a discrete, constrained decision problem. In recent years, many optimization methods, parallel algorithms, and practical techniques have been developed for solving SAT. In this survey, we present a general framework (an algorithm space) that integrates existing SAT algorithms into a unified perspective. We describe sequential and parallel SAT algorithms including variable splitting, resolution, local search, global optimization, mathematical programming, and practical SAT algorithms. We give performance evaluation of some existing SAT algorithms. Finally, we provide a set of practical applications of the sat...

This report discusses the design of computational experiments to test heuristic methods and provides reporting guidelines for such experimentation. The goal is to promote thoughtful, well-planned, and extensive testing of heuristics, full disclosure of experimental conditions, and integrity in and reproducibility of the reported results. 1

In this paper we discuss the use of non-stationary penalty functions to solve general nonlinear programming problems (NP ) using real-valued GAs. The non-stationary penalty is a function of the generation number; as the number of generations increases so does the penalty. Therefore, as the penalty increases it puts more and more selective pressure on the GA to find a feasible solution. The ideas presented in this paper come from two basic areas: calculus-based nonlinear programming and simulated annealing. The non-stationary penalty methods are tested on four NP test cases and the effectiveness of these methods are reported.. 1 Introduction Constrained function optimization is an extremely important tool used in almost every facet of engineering, operations research, mathematics, and etc. Constrained optimization can be represented as a nonlinear programming problem. The general nonlinear programming problem is defined as follows: (NP ) minimize f(X) subject to (nonlinear and linear)...

. Quadratic Assignment Problems model many applications in diverse areas such as operations research, parallel and distributed computing, and combinatorial data analysis. In this paper we survey some of the most important techniques, applications, and methods regarding the quadratic assignment problem. We focus our attention on recent developments. 1. Introduction Given a set N = f1; 2; : : : ; ng and n \Theta n matrices F = (f ij ) and D = (d kl ), the quadratic assignment problem (QAP) can be stated as follows: min p2\Pi N n X i=1 n X j=1 f ij d p(i)p(j) + n X i=1 c ip(i) ; where \Pi N is the set of all permutations of N . One of the major applications of the QAP is in location theory where the matrix F = (f ij ) is the flow matrix, i.e. f ij is the flow of materials from facility i to facility j, and D = (d kl ) is the distance matrix, i.e. d kl represents the distance from location k to location l [62, 67, 137]. The cost of simultaneously assigning facility i to locat...

This paper provides a comprehensive survey of the most popular constraint-handling techniques currently used with evolutionary algorithms. We review approaches that go from simple variations of a penalty function, to others, more sophisticated, that are biologically inspired on emulations of the immune system, culture or ant colonies. Besides describing briefly each of these approaches (or groups of techniques), we provide some criticism regarding their highlights and drawbacks. A small comparative study is also conducted, in order to assess the performance of several penalty-based approaches with respect to a dominance-based technique proposed by the author, and with respect to some mathematical programming approaches. Finally, we provide some guidelines regarding how to select the most appropriate constraint-handling technique for a certain application, ad we conclude with some of the the most promising paths of future research in this area.

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Penalty functions are often used in constrained optimization. However, it is very difficult to strike the right balance between objective and penalty functions. This paper introduces a novel approach to balance objective and penalty functions stochastically, i.e., stochastic ranking, and presents a new view on penalty function methods in terms of the dominance of penalty and objective functions. Some of the pitfalls of naive penalty methods are discussed in these terms. The new ranking method is tested using a (µ, ) evolution strategy on 13 benchmark problems. Our results show that suitable ranking alone (i.e., selection), without the introduction of complicated and specialized variation operators, is capable of improving the search performance significantly.

During the last two years several methods have been proposed for handling constraints by genetic algorithms for numerical optimization problems. In this paper we review these methods, test them on five selected problems, and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.

In Part I (Floudas and Visweswaran, 1990), a deterministic global optimization approach was proposed for solving certain classes of nonconvex optimization problems. An algorithm, GOP, was presented for the rigorous solution of the problem through a series of primal and relaxed dual problems until the upper and lower bounds from these problems converged to an ffl-global optimum. In this paper, theoretical results are presented for several classes of mathematical programming problems that include : (i) the general quadratic programming problem, (ii) quadratic programming problems with quadratic constraints, (iii) pooling and blending problems, and (iv) unconstrained and constrained optimization problems with polynomial terms in the objective function and/or constraints. For each class, a few examples are presented illustrating the approach. Keywords : Global Optimization, Quadratic Programming, Quadratic Constraints, Polynomial functions, Pooling and Blending Problems. Author to whom...