253,124 research outputs found
Revisiting topology optimization with buckling constraints
We review some features of topology optimization with a lower bound on the
critical load factor, as computed by linearized buckling analysis. The change
of the optimized design, the competition between stiffness and stability
requirements and the activation of several buckling modes, depending on the
value of such lower bound, are studied. We also discuss some specific issues
which are of particular interest for this problem, as the use of non-conforming
finite elements for the analysis, the use of inconsistent sensitivities in the
optimization and the replacement of the single eigenvalue constraints with an
aggregated measure. We discuss the influence of these practices on the
optimization result, giving some recommendations.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, 2 table
A General Analysis of the Convergence of ADMM
We provide a new proof of the linear convergence of the alternating direction
method of multipliers (ADMM) when one of the objective terms is strongly
convex. Our proof is based on a framework for analyzing optimization algorithms
introduced in Lessard et al. (2014), reducing algorithm convergence to
verifying the stability of a dynamical system. This approach generalizes a
number of existing results and obviates any assumptions about specific choices
of algorithm parameters. On a numerical example, we demonstrate that minimizing
the derived bound on the convergence rate provides a practical approach to
selecting algorithm parameters for particular ADMM instances. We complement our
upper bound by constructing a nearly-matching lower bound on the worst-case
rate of convergence.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Constrained Deep Networks: Lagrangian Optimization via Log-Barrier Extensions
This study investigates the optimization aspects of imposing hard inequality
constraints on the outputs of CNNs. In the context of deep networks,
constraints are commonly handled with penalties for their simplicity, and
despite their well-known limitations. Lagrangian-dual optimization has been
largely avoided, except for a few recent works, mainly due to the computational
complexity and stability/convergence issues caused by alternating explicit dual
updates/projections and stochastic optimization. Several studies showed that,
surprisingly for deep CNNs, the theoretical and practical advantages of
Lagrangian optimization over penalties do not materialize in practice. We
propose log-barrier extensions, which approximate Lagrangian optimization of
constrained-CNN problems with a sequence of unconstrained losses. Unlike
standard interior-point and log-barrier methods, our formulation does not need
an initial feasible solution. Furthermore, we provide a new technical result,
which shows that the proposed extensions yield an upper bound on the duality
gap. This generalizes the duality-gap result of standard log-barriers, yielding
sub-optimality certificates for feasible solutions. While sub-optimality is not
guaranteed for non-convex problems, our result shows that log-barrier
extensions are a principled way to approximate Lagrangian optimization for
constrained CNNs via implicit dual variables. We report comprehensive weakly
supervised segmentation experiments, with various constraints, showing that our
formulation outperforms substantially the existing constrained-CNN methods,
both in terms of accuracy, constraint satisfaction and training stability, more
so when dealing with a large number of constraints
Network synchronization: Optimal and Pessimal Scale-Free Topologies
By employing a recently introduced optimization algorithm we explicitely
design optimally synchronizable (unweighted) networks for any given scale-free
degree distribution. We explore how the optimization process affects
degree-degree correlations and observe a generic tendency towards
disassortativity. Still, we show that there is not a one-to-one correspondence
between synchronizability and disassortativity. On the other hand, we study the
nature of optimally un-synchronizable networks, that is, networks whose
topology minimizes the range of stability of the synchronous state. The
resulting ``pessimal networks'' turn out to have a highly assortative
string-like structure. We also derive a rigorous lower bound for the Laplacian
eigenvalue ratio controlling synchronizability, which helps understanding the
impact of degree correlations on network synchronizability.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figs, submitted to J. Phys. A (proceedings of Complex
Networks 2007
Convergence Analysis of Mixed Timescale Cross-Layer Stochastic Optimization
This paper considers a cross-layer optimization problem driven by
multi-timescale stochastic exogenous processes in wireless communication
networks. Due to the hierarchical information structure in a wireless network,
a mixed timescale stochastic iterative algorithm is proposed to track the
time-varying optimal solution of the cross-layer optimization problem, where
the variables are partitioned into short-term controls updated in a faster
timescale, and long-term controls updated in a slower timescale. We focus on
establishing a convergence analysis framework for such multi-timescale
algorithms, which is difficult due to the timescale separation of the algorithm
and the time-varying nature of the exogenous processes. To cope with this
challenge, we model the algorithm dynamics using stochastic differential
equations (SDEs) and show that the study of the algorithm convergence is
equivalent to the study of the stochastic stability of a virtual stochastic
dynamic system (VSDS). Leveraging the techniques of Lyapunov stability, we
derive a sufficient condition for the algorithm stability and a tracking error
bound in terms of the parameters of the multi-timescale exogenous processes.
Based on these results, an adaptive compensation algorithm is proposed to
enhance the tracking performance. Finally, we illustrate the framework by an
application example in wireless heterogeneous network
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