Industrial production is one of the most basic human activities indispensable to the economic activity. Due to its complexity, production is not very well understood and modeled as opposed to traditional fields of inquiry such as physics. This book aims at enhancing rigorous understanding of a particular area of production, that of analysis and optimization of production lines and networks using discrete event models and simulation. To our knowledge, this is the first book treating this subject from the point of view mentioned above. We have arrived at the realization that discrete event models and simulation provide perhaps the best tools to model production lines and networks for a number of reasons. Analysis is precise but demands enormous computational resources, usually unavailable in practical situations. Brute force simulation is also precise but slow when quick decisions are to be made. Approximate analytical models are fast but often unreliable as far as accuracy is concerned. The approach of the book, on the other hand, combines speed and accuracy to an exceptional degree in most practical applications.

Many nonlinear problems in physics, engineering, biology and social sciences can be reduced to finding critical points of functionals. While minimax and Morse theories provide answers to many situations and problems on the existence of multiple critical points of a functional, they often cannot provide much-needed additional properties of these critical points. Sign-changing critical point theory has emerged as a new area of rich research on critical points of a differentiable functional with important applications to nonlinear elliptic PDEs.

This book is intended for advanced graduate students and researchers involved in sign-changing critical point theory, PDEs, global analysis, and nonlinear functional analysis.

Now fully updated in a third edition, this is a comprehensive textbook on combinatorial optimization. It puts special emphasis on theoretical results and algorithms with provably good performance, in contrast to heuristics. The book contains complete but concise proofs, also for many deep results, some of which have not appeared in print before. Recent topics are covered as well, and numerous references are provided. This third edition contains a new chapter on facility location problems, an area which has been extremely active in the past few years. Furthermore there are several new sections and further material on various topics. New exercises and updates in the bibliography were added.

Performance optimization is vital in the design and operation of modern engineering systems, including communications, manufacturing, robotics, and logistics. Most engineering systems are too complicated to model, or the system parameters cannot be easily identified, so learning techniques have to be applied. This book provides a unified framework based on a sensitivity point of view. It also introduces new approaches and proposes new research topics within this sensitivity-based framework. This new perspective on a popular topic is presented by a well respected expert in the field.

This volume deals with controllability and observability properties of nonlinear systems, as well as various ways to obtain input-output representations. The emphasis is on fundamental notions as (controlled) invariant distributions and submanifolds, together with algorithms to compute the required feedbacks.

Decomposable sets since T. R. Rockafellar in 1968 are one of basic notions in nonlinear analysis, especially in the theory of multifunctions. A subset K of measurable functions is called decomposable if

(Q) for all and measurable A.

This book attempts to show the present stage of "decomposable analysis" from the point of view of fixed point theory. The book is split into three parts, beginning with the background of functional analysis, proceeding to the theory of multifunctions and lastly, the decomposability property.

Mathematicians and students working in functional, convex and nonlinear analysis, differential inclusions and optimal control should find this book of interest. A good background in fixed point theory is assumed as is a background in topology.

Gas turbines play an important role in power generation and aeroengines. An extended survey of methods associated with the control and systems identification in these engines, Dynamic Modelling of Gas Turbines reviews current methods and presents a number of new perspectives.

Describes a total modelling and identification program for various classes of aeroengine, allowing you to deal with the engine s behaviour over its complete life cycle.

Shows how the above regime can be applied to a real engine balancing the theory with practical use.

Follows a comparative approach to the study of existing and newly derived techniques thus offering an informed choice of controllers and models from the tried-and trusted to the most up-to-date evolutionary optimisation models.

Presents entirely novel work in modelling, optimal control and systems identification to help you get the most from your engine designs.

Dynamic Modelling of Gas Turbines represents the latest research of three groups of internationally recognised experts in gas turbine studies. It will be of interest to academics working in aeroengine control and to industrial practitioners in companies concerned with their design. The work presented here is easily extendible to be relevant in other areas in which gas turbines play a role such as power engineering.

This book offers a systematic presentation of up-to-date material scattered throughout the literature from the methodology point of view. It reviews the basic theories and methods, with many interesting problems in partial and ordinary differential equations, differential geometry and mathematical physics as applications, and provides the necessary preparation for almost all important aspects in contemporary studies. All methods are illustrated by carefully chosen examples from mechanics, physics, engineering and geometry.

Stochastic optimization problems arise in decision-making problems under uncertainty, and find various applications in economics and finance. On the other hand, problems in finance have recently led to new developments in the theory of stochastic control. This volume provides a systematic treatment of stochastic optimization problems applied to finance by presenting the different existing methods: dynamic programming, viscosity solutions, backward stochastic differential equations, and martingale duality methods. The theory is discussed in the context of recent developments in this field, with complete and detailed proofs, and is illustrated by means of concrete examples from the world of finance: portfolio allocation, option hedging, real options, optimal investment, etc. This book is directed towards graduate students and researchers in mathematical finance, and will also benefit applied mathematicians interested in financial applications and practitioners wishing to know more about the use of stochastic optimization methods in finance.

Richard Bellmann developed a theory of dynamic programming which is for many reasons still in the center of great interest. The authors present a new approach in the ?eld of the optimization and multi-objective control of time-discrete systems which is closely related to the work of Richard Bellmann. They develop their own concept and their extension to the optimization and multi-objective control of time-discrete systems as well as to dynamic networks and multilayered structures are very stimulating for further research. Di?erent perspectives of discrete control and optimal dynamic ?ow problems on networks are treated and characterized. Together with the algorithmic solutions a framework of multi-objective control problems is - rived. The conclusion with a real world example underlines the necessity and - portance of their theoretic framework. As they come back to the classical Bellmann concept of dynamic programming they stress and honor his basic concept without debase their own work. Multilayereddecisionprocessesaspartofthedesignandanalysisofcomplexsystems and networks will be essential in many ways and ?elds in the future.

Interest in regularization methods for ill-posed nonlinear operator equations and variational inequalities of monotone type in Hilbert and Banach spaces has grown rapidly over recent years. Results in the field over the last three decades, previously only available in journal articles, are comprehensively explored with particular attention given to applications of regularization methods as well as to practical methods used in computational analysis.

H-infinity control theory deals with the minimization of the H-norm of the transfer matrix from an exogenous disturbance to a pertinent controlled output of a given plant. This comprehensive book examines both the theoretical and practical aspects of H-infinity control from the angle of the structural properties of linear systems.

This book is a practical guide to the application of control benchmarking to real, complex, industrial processes. The variety of industrial case studies gives the benchmarking ideas presented a robust real-world attitude. The book deals with control engineering principles and economic and management aspects of benchmarking. It shows the reader how to avoid common problems in benchmarking and details the benefits of effective benchmarking.

This, the fourth edition of Stuwe 's book on the calculus of variations, surveys new developments in this exciting field. It also gives a concise introduction to variational methods. In particular it includes the proof for the convergence of the Yamabe flow and a detailed treatment of the phenomenon of blow-up. Recently discovered results for backward bubbling in the heat flow for harmonic maps or surfaces are discussed. A number of changes have been made throughout the text.

Today, the optimization of production planning processes by means of IT and quantitative methods is a de-facto standard in the energy industry. Franch et al. inChapter1andIkenouyeinChapter2giveanintroduction, overview, and reasonsforthis. Furthermore, theenergyproblemnowisnotonlyachallenging one but also one of the most important issues in the world from the political and economical points of view. In every country, the government is faced with the problem of how to adopt the system of 'Cap and Trade. ' Especially energy consuming industries, such as steel, power, oil and chemicals, are seriously confronted with this problem. VIII Preface This is also the reason why the German Operations Research Society (GOR) and one of its working groups, held a symposium with the title "Stochastic Optimization in the Energy Industry. " During the 78th meeting of the GOR working group "Praxis der Mathematischen Optimierung/Real World Optimization" in Aachen at Procom GmbH on April 21/22, 2007, the speakers with an application background explained their requirements for stochasticoptimizationsolutionsbasedonpracticalexperiences. Thespeakers from the research side and the software system suppliers examined di?erent aspects of the whole subject - from the integration of wind energy, the chain of errors in nuclear power plants and the scheduling of hydroelectric power stations, and the risk assessment in trading activities to the various software systems which support stochastic optimization methods. The symposium o?ered an interesting overview which re?ected the - quirements, possibilities and restrictions of "Stochastic Optimization in the Energy Industry.

Substantially revised, reorganised and updated, the second edition now comprises eighteen chapters, carefully arranged in a straightforward and logical manner, with many new results and open problems.

As well as covering the theoretical aspects of the subject, with detailed proofs of many important results, the authors present a number of algorithms, and whole chapters are devoted to topics such as branchings, feedback arc and vertex sets, connectivity augmentations, sparse subdigraphs with prescribed connectivity, and also packing, covering and decompositions of digraphs. Throughout the book, there is a strong focus on applications which include quantum mechanics, bioinformatics, embedded computing, and the travelling salesman problem.

Detailed indices and topic-oriented chapters ease navigation, and more than 650 exercises, 170 figures and 150 open problems are included to help immerse the reader in all aspects of the subject.

During the last century, we have witnessed the birth and evolution of sport as an economic activity, which has created jobs on the one hand, but also problems of management on the other. This process has not been immune from the parti- lar characteristics associated with sport, typically united here more than in other activities: technique, physical effort, entertainment and passion. And all this within a framework of ever-increasing consumption of ?nancial resources. It is not s- prising, therefore, that commonly-used economic models, based on mechanistic approaches, do not provide a viable solution to increasingly complex and incre- ingly frequent problems. Any attempt to apply such an approach in this technical, economic and ?nancial context can only result in failure. The high degree of subj- tivity inherent in sporting activity requires new tools, in which remodeled conc- tual, theoretical and technical elements should play an important role. Complexity, uncertainty and subjectivity are therefore basic to understand, and deal with, the phenomenon of sport. The necessity of resorting to these elements was identi?ed over a quarter of a century ago by a small group of professors and researchers at the University of Barcelona. Together we started the ?rst postgraduate courses and organized se- nars to alert sports centre managers, as well as to make private and public organi- tions aware of the increasing importance of a proper, speci?c management for sports organizations.

Energy is one of the worlds most challenging problems, and power systems are an important aspect of energy related issues. This handbook contains state-of-the-art contributions on power systems modeling and optimization. The book is separated into two volumes with six sections, which cover the most important areas of energy systems. The first volume covers the topics operations planning and expansion planning while the second volume focuses on transmission and distribution modeling, forecasting in energy, energy auctions and markets, as well as risk management. The contributions are authored by recognized specialists in their fields and consist in either state-of-the-art reviews or examinations of state-of-the-art developments. The articles are not purely theoretical, but instead also discuss specific applications in power systems.

"Optimization on Metric and Normed Spaces" is devoted to the recent progress in optimization on Banach spaces and complete metric spaces. Optimization problems are usually considered on metric spaces satisfying certain compactness assumptions which guarantee the existence of solutions and convergence of algorithms. This book considers spaces that do not satisfy such compactness assumptions. In order to overcome these difficulties, the book uses the Baire category approach and considers approximate solutions. Therefore, it presents a number of new results concerning penalty methods in constrained optimization, existence of solutions in parametric optimization, well-posedness of vector minimization problems, and many other results obtained in the last ten years. The book is intended for mathematicians interested in optimization and applied functional analysis.

This volume contains a collection of papers dedicated to Professor Eckhard Platen to celebrate his 60th birthday, which occurred in 2009. The contributions have been written by a number of his colleagues and co-authors. All papers have been - viewed and presented as keynote talks at the international conference "Quantitative Methods in Finance" (QMF) in Sydney in December 2009. The QMF Conference Series was initiated by Eckhard Platen in 1993 when he was at the Australian - tional University (ANU) in Canberra. Since joining UTS in 1997 the conference came to be organised on a much larger scale and has grown to become a signi?cant international event in quantitative ?nance. Professor Platen has held the Chair of Quantitative Finance at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) jointly in the Faculties of Business and Science since 1997. Prior to this appointment, he was the Founding Head of the Centre for Fin- cial Mathematics at the Institute of Advanced Studies at ANU, a position to which he was appointed in 1994. Eckhard completed a PhD in Mathematics at the Technical University in Dresden in 1975 and in 1985 obtained his Doctor of Science degree (Habilitation degree in the German system) from the Academy of Sciences in Berlin where he headed the Stochastics group at the Weierstrass Institute.

"Each chapter contains a well-written introduction and notes. They include the author's deep insights on the subject matter and provide historical comments and guidance to related literature. This book may well become an important milestone in the literature of optimal control." -Mathematical Reviews "Thanks to a great effort to be self-contained, [this book] renders accessibly the subject to a wide audience. Therefore, it is recommended to all researchers and professionals interested in Optimal Control and its engineering and economic applications. It can serve as an excellent textbook for graduate courses in Optimal Control (with special emphasis on Nonsmooth Analysis)." -Automatica

During the last four decades there has been a remarkable development in optimization and optimal control. Due to its wide variety of applications, many scientists and researchers have paid attention to fields of optimization and optimal control. A huge number of new theoretical, algorithmic, and computational results have been observed in the last few years. This book gives the latest advances, and due to the rapid development of these fields, there are no other recent publications on the same topics.

Key features:

Provides a collection of selected contributions giving a state-of-the-art account of recent developments in the field

Covers a broad range of topics in optimization and optimal control, including unique applications

Includes chapters written by experts in their respective disciplines

Appeals to a broad audience of researchers, practitioners, and advanced graduate students in applied mathematics and engineering

Variational calculus has been the basis of a variety of powerful methods in the ?eld of mechanics of materials for a long time. Examples range from numerical schemes like the ?nite element method to the determination of effective material properties via homogenization and multiscale approaches. In recent years, however, a broad range of novel applications of variational concepts has been developed. This c- prises the modeling of the evolution of internal variables in inelastic materials as well as the initiation and development of material patterns and microstructures. The IUTAM Symposium on "Variational Concepts with Applications to the - chanics of Materials" took place at the Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany, on September 22-26, 2008. The symposium was attended by 55 delegates from 10 countries. Altogether 31 lectures were presented. The objective of the symposium was to give an overview of the new dev- opments sketched above, to bring together leading experts in these ?elds, and to provide a forum for discussing recent advances and identifying open problems to work on in the future. The symposium focused on the developmentof new material models as well as the advancement of the corresponding computational techniques. Speci?c emphasis is put on the treatment of materials possessing an inherent - crostructure and thus exhibiting a behavior which fundamentally involves multiple scales. Among the topics addressed at the symposium were: 1. Energy-based modeling of material microstructures via envelopes of n- quasiconvex potentials and applications to plastic behavior and pha- transformations.

In a typical mathematical model of a controlled distributed parameter process one usually ?nds either boundary or internal locally distributed controls to serve as the means to describe the effect of external actuators on the process at hand. H- ever, these classical controls, enteringthe modelequationsas additive terms, are not suitable to deal with a vast array of processes that can change their principal intr- sic properties due to the control actions. Important examples here include (but not limitedto)thechainreaction-typeprocessesinbiomedical, nuclear, chemicalan- nancial applications, which can changetheir (reaction)rate when certain "catalysts" are applied, and the so-called "smart materials," which can, for instance, alter their frequency response. The goal of this monograph is to address the issue of global controllability of partial differential equations in the context of multiplicative (or bilinear) c- trols, which enter the model equations as coef?cients. The mathematical models of our interest include the linear and nonlinear parabolic and hyperbolic PDE's, the Schrodi ] nger equation, and coupled hybrid nonlinear distributed parameter systems associated with the swimming phenomenon. Pullman, WA, USA Alexander Khapalov January 2010 vii Preface This monograph developed from the research conducted in 2001-2009 in the area of controllability theory of partial differential equations. The concept of control- bility is a principal component of Control Theory which was brought to life in the 1950's by numerous applications in engineering, and has received the most sign- icant attention both from the engineering and the mathematical communities since then."

Comprehensive and state-of-the art study of the basic concepts and principles of variational analysis and generalized differentiation in both finite-dimensional and infinite-dimensional spaces

Presents numerous applications to problems in the optimization, equilibria, stability and sensitivity, control theory, economics, mechanics, etc.