Structured barrier and penalty functions in infinite dimensional optimisation and analysis. Very large scale tightly-constrained optimisation problems are ubiquitous and include water management, traffic flow, and imaging at telescopes and hospitals. Massively parallel computers can solve such problems and provide physically realisable solution only if subtle design issues are mastered. Resolving such issues is the goal of this project.
Construction of utility functions from observations of consumer behaviour with application to resource modelling and water management strategies. The optimisation techniques developed will be on the forefront of applied mathematical sciences and will increase the prestige of the Australian mathematical community. The expected results will also be of value because they can be used to improve the CGE modelling technique. The implementation of the CGE model of one of Victoria's agricultural regions ....Construction of utility functions from observations of consumer behaviour with application to resource modelling and water management strategies. The optimisation techniques developed will be on the forefront of applied mathematical sciences and will increase the prestige of the Australian mathematical community. The expected results will also be of value because they can be used to improve the CGE modelling technique. The implementation of the CGE model of one of Victoria's agricultural regions will be used to improve the accuracy of regional economic models and will contribute to efficient regional resource management. This has the potential to positively affect the economic growth and employment in the region. The expected outcomes of the project are especially important taking into account the need for predicting the socio-economic consequences of the 1994 COAG water reforms. Read moreRead less
Decomposition and Duality: New Approaches to Integer and Stochastic Integer Programming. Because of their rich modelling capabilities, integer programs are widely used in industry for decision making and planning. However their solution algorithms do not have the maturity of their cousins in convex optimisation, where the theory of strong duality is ubiquitous. Efficient methods for convex optimisation under uncertainty do not apply to the integer case, which is highly non-convex. Furthermore, i ....Decomposition and Duality: New Approaches to Integer and Stochastic Integer Programming. Because of their rich modelling capabilities, integer programs are widely used in industry for decision making and planning. However their solution algorithms do not have the maturity of their cousins in convex optimisation, where the theory of strong duality is ubiquitous. Efficient methods for convex optimisation under uncertainty do not apply to the integer case, which is highly non-convex. Furthermore, integer models usually assume the data is known with certainty, which is often not the case in the real world. This project will develop new theory and algorithms to enhance the analysis of integer models, including those that incorporating uncertainty, while also enabling the use of parallel computing paradigms. Read moreRead less