Alain B. Zemkoho

Necessary optimality conditions in pessimistic bilevel programming

This article is devoted to the so-called pessimistic version of bilevel programming programs. Minimization problems of this type are challenging to handle partly because the corresponding value functions are often merely upper (while not lower) semicontinuous. Employing advanced tools of variational analysis and generalized differentiation, we provide rather general frameworks ensuring the Lipschitz continuity of the corresponding value functions. Several types of lower subdifferential necessary optimality conditions are then derived by using the lower-level value function approach and the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker representation of lower-level optimal solution maps. We also derive upper subdifferential necessary optimality conditions of a new type, which can be essentially stronger than the lower ones in some particular settings. Finally, certain links are established between the obtained necessary optimality conditions for the pessimistic and optimistic versions in bilevel programming.

The bilevel programming problem: reformulations, constraint qualifications and optimality conditions

We consider the bilevel programming problem and its optimal value and KKT one level reformulations. The two reformulations are studied in a unified manner and compared in terms of optimal solutions, constraint qualifications and optimality conditions. We also show that any bilevel programming problem where the lower level problem is linear with respect to the lower level variable, is partially calm without any restrictive assumption. Finally, we consider the bilevel demand adjustment problem in transportation, and show how KKT type optimality conditions can be obtained under the partial calmness, using the differential calculus of Mordukhovich.

New Optimality Conditions for the Semivectorial Bilevel Optimization Problem

The paper is concerned with the optimistic formulation of a bilevel optimization problem with multiobjective lower-level problem. Considering the scalarization approach for the multiobjective program, we transform our problem into a scalar-objective optimization problem with inequality constraints by means of the well-known optimal value reformulation. Completely detailed first-order necessary optimality conditions are then derived in the smooth and nonsmooth settings while using the generalized differentiation calculus of Mordukhovich. Our approach is different from the one previously used in the literature and the conditions obtained are new. Furthermore, they reduce to those of a usual bilevel program, if the lower-level objective function becomes single-valued.

Sensitivity analysis for two-level value functions with applications to bilevel programming

This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the link between a now conventional framework in hierarchical optimization called the optimistic bilevel problem and its initial more difficult formulation that we call here the original optimistic bilevel optimization problem. It follows from this research that although the process of deriving necessary optimality conditions for the latter problem is more involved, the conditions themselves do not---to a large extent---differ from those known for the conventional problem. It has already been well recognized in the literature that for optimality conditions of the usual optimistic bilevel program appropriate coderivative constructions for the set-valued solution map of the lower-level problem could be used, while it is shown in this paper that for the original optimistic formulation we have to go a step further to require and justify a certain Lipschitz-like property of this map. This is related to the local Lipschitz continuity of the optimal value funct...

The Generalized Mangasarian-Fromowitz Constraint Qualification and Optimality Conditions for Bilevel Programs

We consider the optimal value reformulation of the bilevel programming problem. It is shown that the Mangasarian-Fromowitz constraint qualification in terms of the basic generalized differentiation constructions of Mordukhovich, which is weaker than the one in terms of Clarke’s nonsmooth tools, fails without any restrictive assumption. Some weakened forms of this constraint qualification are then suggested, in order to derive Karush-Kuhn-Tucker type optimality conditions for the aforementioned problem. Considering the partial calmness, a new characterization is suggested and the link with the previous constraint qualifications is analyzed.

Bilevel road pricing: theoretical analysis and optimality conditions

We consider the bilevel road pricing problem. In contrary to the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (one level) reformulation, the optimal value reformulation is globally and locally equivalent to the initial problem. Moreover, in the process of deriving optimality conditions, the optimal value reformulation helps to preserve some essential data involved in the traffic assignment problem that may disappear with the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) one. Hence, we consider in this work the optimal value reformulation of the bilevel road pricing problem; using some recent developments in nonsmooth analysis, we derive implementable KKT type optimality conditions for the problem containing all the necessary information. The issue of estimating the (fixed) demand required for the road pricing problem is a quite difficult problem which has been also addressed in recent years using bilevel programming. We also show how the ideas used in designing KKT type optimality conditions for the road pricing problem can be applied to derive optimality conditions for the origin-destination (O-D) matrix estimation problem. Many other theoretical aspects of the bilevel road pricing and O-D matrix estimation problems are also studied in this paper.

A simple approach to optimality conditions in minmax programming

Considering the minmax programming problem, lower and upper subdifferential optimality conditions, in the sense of Mordukhovich, are derived. The approach here, mainly based on the nonsmooth dual objects of Mordukhovich, is completely different from that of most of the previous works where generalizations of the alternative theorem of Farkas have been applied. The results obtained are close to those known in the literature. However, one of the main achievements of this article is that we could also derive necessary optimality conditions for the minmax program of the usual Karush–Kuhn–Tucker type, which seems to be new in this field of study.

Pricing toll roads under uncertainty

We study the toll pricing problem when the non-toll costs on the network are not fixed and can vary over time. We assume that users who take their decisions, after the tolls are fixed, have full information of all costs before making their decision. Toll-setter, on the other hand, do not have any information of the future costs on the network. The only information toll-setter have is historical information (sample) of the network costs. In this work we study this problem on parallel networks and networks with few number of paths in single origin-destination setting. We formulate toll-setting problem in this setting as a distributionally robust optimization problem and propose a method to solve to it. We illustrate the usefulness of our approach by doing numerical experiments using a parallel network.