Bilevel Programming, Equilibrium, and Combinatorial Problems with Applications to Engineering 2016
1ITESM, Monterrey, Mexico
2TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg, Germany
3Texas Tech University (TTU), Lubbock, USA
4Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico
5University of Banking of the National Bank of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Bilevel Programming, Equilibrium, and Combinatorial Problems with Applications to Engineering 2016
Description
Although many applications fit the bilevel programming (BLP) and bilevel optimal control (BOC) framework, real-life implementation is scarce, due mainly to the lack of efficient algorithms for tackling medium- and large-scale BLP and BOC problems. Solving a BLP (or BOC) problem, even a simplest one, is a difficult task. Many alternative methods may be used, but there is no general method that guarantees convergence or optimality for each problem.
Mixed-integer BLPs (MIBLP) with part of variables being integer are even harder for the conventional optimization techniques. For instance, a replacement of the lower-level (LL) optimization problem with the KKT conditions may fail if some LL variables are not continuous. Therefore, solid theoretical base including elements of combinatorial methods is necessary to propose efficient algorithms aimed at finding local or global solutions of such problems.
Many new applied problems in the energy networks have recently arisen that can be efficiently solved only as MIBLPs: the natural gas cash-out problem, the deregulated electricity market equilibrium problem, biofuel problems, a problem of designing coupled energy carrier networks, and so forth. Bilevel models to describe migration processes have also become very popular in the area of BLP and BOC.
Engineering applications of bilevel optimization and combinatorial problems also include facility location, environmental regulation, energy and agricultural policies, hazardous materials management, and optimal designs for chemical and biotechnological processes.
The primary purpose of the special issue is to discuss these problems with the researchers working in these areas.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Fundamentals of variational inequality theory, BLP, BOC, and combinatorial optimization
- Conjectural variations equilibrium and its applications to decision processes
- BLP and BOC problems and their reduction to single-level ones
- Bilevel optimal control (BOC) problems and their applications
- Logistic problems
- Heuristics for BLP and BOC problems
- Equilibrium in models of classical and mixed oligopoly
- Combinatorial problems and the coding theory
- Generalized positional calculus systems: descriptions and applications in specialized digital devices
- Methods and algorithms for the information coding and compression