Raw material 2 Raw material 3

Energy minimization of electron configurations =

The main application is energy minimization of electron configurations in disordered

materials. This type of problem appears, for example, in the study of semiconductors at

low temperature. Although the problems have simple

structures, they are combinatorially very hard, so

different reformulation techniques are needed.

We are working on the global optimization of zero-one quadratic programming problems.

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE IN

OPTIMIZATION AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

The Optimization and Systems Engineering (OSE) group at Åbo Akademi University is an interdisciplinary research group focusing on theory, methods and algorithms in systems engineering, optimization and statistics, as well astheir applications in science and engineering.

OSE bridges the systems engineering, systems theory and mathematical disciplines at ÅAU, and the group represents the kernel of expertise in the OSE field at the University. The research is made up of two main blocks: Theory and Methods, as well as Applications in Science and Engineering. The work within the blocks is further divided into seven work packages. Currently the research group consists of about 25 PhD students and post doctoral researchers.

MathematicalStatistics

OptimizationProfessor Tapio WesterlundChairman of the OSE groupProcess Design and Systems EngineeringDepartment of Chemical Engineering

Systems EngineeringProfessor Hannu Toivonen

Industrial Systems EngineeringDepartment of Information Technologies

Systems TheoryProfessor Olof StaffansMathematics and StatisticsDepartment of Natural Sciences

Mathematical StatisticsProfessor Jukka Corander

Mathematics and StatisticsDepartment of Natural Sciences

GROUP LEADERS

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT THE OSE

GROUP’S WEB SITE AT WWW.ABO.FI/OSE

THEORY AND METHODS

In this block we are interested in finding theoretical results that can be

used in any of the implementations in the other block Applications in

Science and Engineering.

Optimization

In Optimization the focus of the research is on mixed integer global

optimization, model representation and generic methods and techniques

for global optimization of certain classes of large scale mixed-integer

nonlinear problems.

APPLICATIONS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

In this block, the theoretical work in Theory and Methods is applied to a

wide range of applications.

Biotechnology and -medicine

In Biotechnology and -medicine, one research focus is on the study of the

global optimization part of so-called peptide docking problems. This type of

problem can be found, for example, in computational drug design. Statistical

methods in medicine is another application we are investigating.

Global optimization

nonconvex mixed integer nonlinear programming

(MINLP) problems containing certain classes of

functions is one of the main research areas in

global optimization in the OSE group.

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Theory and algorithms for reformulation of

Andreas LundellPost doc researcher

Anders SkjälPhD student

Large-scale discrete optimization One of the engineering research areas is the application of

optimization methods on large-scale industrial production

planning problems. The goal is to create accurate

and effective optimization models for various

industries in order to improve

productivity and minimize costs

throughout the supply chain.

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Mikael NybergPhD student

Input/output-free infinite-dimensional linear systems 5

mainly using the general class of passive state/signal systems is one of the

topics in systems theory studied in the OSE group.

Infinite-dimensional linear systems from an input/output free perspective,

Mikael KurulaPost doc researcher

Bayesian learning of graphical models and classifiers «

graphical model best representing the dependence structure of a

multidimensional probability distribution is one of the research

areas considered within mathematical statistics in the OSE group.

Such representations combine probability theory and graph theory.

Creating and improving algorithms that find the undirected

Henrik NymanPhD student

Engineering

Large scale industrial scheduling and time-periodic systems used, for instance,

in active cylinder balancing methods for diesel engines are two of the topics

studied.

Mathematical statistics

In Mathematical statistics we study the Bayesian approach to statistics.

Despite of the evident success of the Bayesian theory, there are also many

research problems where the computational challenges have so far proven to

be too exhaustive to promote wide-spread use of the state-of-the-art

Bayesian methodology. To try to resolve this issue, we focus on stochastic

computational and modeling strategies to develop algorithms that overcome

problems associated with the analysis of highly complex data sets.

Systems engineering

In Systems engineering, one focus is on solving complex control problems for

which traditional controller design methods are inadequate. These problems

include feedback control of systems involving integer-valued variables,

nonlinear systems and multiple objective controller design problems.

Systems theory

In Systems theory we look at the theory for controlling infinite-dimensional

distributed systems. A natural setting in the case of a continuous time variable

is to view them as infinite-dimensional well-posed linear systems. Another

approach we are investigating is to replace the classical input/state/output

point-of-view by a “state/signal” one.

Physics and material science

In cooperation with the Physics department at Åbo Akademi University, we

especially study semiconductor design in material physics through the means

of optimization of electron configuration in disordered materials.

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Ray PörnPost doc researcher

Otto NissfolkPhD student