First-order methods have been popularly used for solving large-scale problems. However, many existing works only consider unconstrained problems or those with simple constraint. In this paper, we develop two first-order methods for constrained convex programs, for which the constraint set is represented by affine equations and smooth nonlinear inequalities. Both methods are based on the classic augmented Lagrangian function. They update the multipliers in the same way as the augmented Lagrangian method (ALM) but employ different primal variable updates. The first method, at each iteration, performs a single proximal gradient step to the primal variable, and the second method is a block update version of the first one.

Recently Tseng (Math Program 83:159185, 1998) extended a class of merit functions, proposed by Luo and Tseng (<i>A new class of merit functions for the nonlinear complementarity problem</i>, in Complementarity and Variational Problems: State of the Art, pp. 204225, 1997), for the nonlinear complementarity problem (NCP) to the semidefinite complementarity problem (SDCP) and showed several related properties. In this paper, we extend this class of merit functions to the second-order cone complementarity problem (SOCCP) and show analogous properties as in NCP and SDCP cases. In addition, we study another class of merit functions which are based on a slight modification of the aforementioned class of merit functions. Both classes of merit functions provide an error bound for the SOCCP and have bounded level sets.

Consensus optimization has received considerable attention in recent years. A number of decentralized algorithms have been proposed for convex consensus optimization. However, to the behaviors or consensus nonconvex optimization, our understanding is more limited. When we lose convexity, we cannot hope that our algorithms always return global solutions though they sometimes still do. Somewhat surprisingly, the decentralized consensus algorithms, DGD and Prox-DGD, retain most other properties that are known in the convex setting. In particular, when diminishing (or constant) step sizes are used, we can prove convergence to a (or a neighborhood of) consensus stationary solution under some regular assumptions. It is worth noting that Prox-DGD can handle nonconvex nonsmooth functions if their proximal operators can be computed. Such functions include SCAD, MCP, and lq quasinorms, q ∈ [0, 1). Similarly, Prox-DGD can take the constraint to a nonconvex set with an easy projection. To establish these properties, we have to introduce a completely different line of analysis, as well as modify existing proofs that were used in the convex setting.

We study correlation bounds under pairwise independent distributions for functions with no large Fourier coefficients. Functions in which all Fourier coefficients are bounded by$δ$are called$δ$-$uniform$. The search for such bounds is motivated by their potential applicability to hardness of approximation, derandomization, and additive combinatorics.

In this paper, we investigate the Hermite spectral method (HSM) to numerically solve the forward Kolmogorov equation (FKE). A useful guideline of choosing the scaling factor of the generalized Hermite functions is given in this paper. It greatly improves the resolution of HSM. The convergence rate of HSM to FKE is analyzed in the suitable function space and has been verified by the numerical simulation. As an important application and our primary motivation to study the HSM to FKE, we work on the implementation of the nonlinear filtering (NLF) problems with a real-time algorithm developed by S.-T. Yau and the second author in 2008. The HSM to FKE is served as the off-line computation in this algorithm. The translating factor of the generalized Hermite functions and the moving-window technique are introduced to deal with the drifting of the posterior conditional density function of the states in the on-line experiments. Two numerical experiments of NLF problems are carried out to illustrate the feasibility of our algorithm. Moreover, our algorithm surpasses the particle filters as a real-time solver to NLF.