"Lectures on Finitely Generated Solvable Groups" are based on the Topics in Group Theory" course focused on finitely generated solvable groups that was given by Gilbert G. Baumslag at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. While knowledge about finitely generated nilpotent groups is extensive, much less is known about the more general class of solvable groups containing them. The study of finitely generated solvable groups involves many different threads; thereforethese notes contain discussions on HNN extensions; amalgamated and wreath products; and other concepts from combinatorial group theory as well as commutative algebra. Along with Baumslag s Embedding Theorem for Finitely Generated Metabelian Groups, two theorems of Bieri and Strebel are presented to provide a solid foundation for understanding the fascinating class of finitely generated solvable groups. Examples are also supplied, which help illuminate many of the key concepts contained in the notes. Requiring only a modest initial group theory background from graduate and post-graduate students, these notes provide a field guide to the class of finitely generated solvable groups froma combinatorial group theory perspective. "

This book contains a detailed mathematical analysis of the variational approach to image restoration based on the minimization of the total variation submitted to the constraints given by the image acquisition model. This model, initially introduced by Rudin, Osher, and Fatemi, had a strong influence in the development of variational methods for image denoising and restoration, and pioneered the use of the BV model in image processing. After a full analysis of the model, the minimizing total variation flow is studied under different boundary conditions, and its main qualitative properties are exhibited. In particular, several explicit solutions of the denoising problem are computed.

This work contains the proceedings of the "Mathematics and Culture" conference held in Venice in March 2002. The conference aims to act as a bridge across the various aspects of human knowledge. While keeping mathematics as its core, it is aimed at anyone endowed with cultural curiosity and interests, whether within or (even more so) outside mathematics. This volume therefore covers music, cinema, art, theatre and literature, with topics ranging from Tibet to comics.

'MathPhys Odyssey 2001' will serve as an excellent reference text for mathematical physicists and graduate students in a number of areas.; Kashiwara/Miwa have a good track record with both SV and Birkhauser.

The articles collected in this volume represent the contributions presented at the IMA workshop on "Dynamics of Algorithms" which took place in November 1997. The workshop was an integral part of the 1997 -98 IMA program on "Emerging Applications of Dynamical Systems." The interaction between algorithms and dynamical systems is mutually beneficial since dynamical methods can be used to study algorithms that are applied repeatedly. Convergence, asymptotic rates are indeed dynamical properties. On the other hand, the study of dynamical systems benefits enormously from having efficient algorithms to compute dynamical objects.

Most people tend to view number theory as the very paradigm of pure mathematics. With the advent of computers, however, number theory has been finding an increasing number of applications in practical settings, such as in cryptography, random number generation, coding theory, and even concert hall acoustics. Yet other applications are still emerging - providing number theorists with some major new areas of opportunity. The 1996 IMA summer program on Emerging Applications of Number Theory was aimed at stimulating further work with some of these newest (and most attractive) applications. Concentration was on number theory's recent links with: (a) wave phenomena in quantum mechanics (more specifically, quantum chaos); and (b) graph theory (especially expander graphs and related spectral theory). This volume contains the contributed papers from that meeting and will be of interest to anyone intrigued by novel applications of modern number-theoretical techniques.

'Subdivision' is a way of representing smooth shapes in a computer. A curve or surface (both of which contain an in?nite number of points) is described in terms of two objects. One object is a sequence of vertices, which we visualise as a polygon, for curves, or a network of vertices, which we visualise by drawing the edges or faces of the network, for surfaces. The other object is a set of rules for making denser sequences or networks. When applied repeatedly, the denser and denser sequences are claimed to converge to a limit, which is the curve or surface that we want to represent. This book focusses on curves, because the theory for that is complete enough that a book claiming that our understanding is complete is exactly what is needed to stimulate research proving that claim wrong. Also because there are already a number of good books on subdivision surfaces. The way in which the limit curve relates to the polygon, and a lot of interesting properties of the limit curve, depend on the set of rules, and this book is about how one can deduce those properties from the set of rules, and how one can then use that understanding to construct rules which give the properties that one wants.

This book contains contributions from a workshop on topology and geometry of polymers, held at the IMA in June 1996, which brought together topologists, combinatorialists, theoretical physicists and polymer scientists, with a common interest in polymer topology. Polymers can be highly self-entangled even in dilute solution. In the melt the inter- and intra-chain entanglements can dominate the rheological properties of these phenomena. Although the possibility of knotting in ring polymers has been recognized for more than thirty years it is only recently that the powerful methods of algebraic topology have been used in treating models of polymers. This book contains a series of chapters which review the current state of the field and give an up to date account of what is known and perhaps more importantly, what is still unknown. The field abounds with open problems. The book is of interest to workers in polymer statistical mechanics but will also be useful as an introduction to topological methods for polymer scientists, and will introduce mathematicians to an area of science where topological approaches are making a substantial contribution.

This book contains 50 papers from among the 95 papers presented at the Seventh International Conference on Fibonacci Numbers and Their Applications which was held at the Institut Fiir Mathematik, Technische Universitiit Graz, Steyrergasse 30, A-SOlO Graz, Austria, from July 15 to July 19, 1996. These papers have been selected after a careful review by well known referees in the field, and they range from elementary number theory to probability and statistics. The Fibonacci numbers and recurrence relations are their unifying bond. It is anticipated that this book, like its six predecessors, will be useful to research workers and graduate students interested in the Fibonacci numbers and their applications. September 1, 1997 The Editors Gerald E. Bergum South Dakota State University Brookings, South Dakota, U. S. A. Alwyn F. Horadam University of New England Armidale, N. S. W. , Australia Andreas N. Philippou House of Representatives Nicosia, Cyprus xxvii THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEES LOCAL COMMITTEE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE Tichy, Robert, Chairman Horadam, A. F. (Australia), Co-Chair Prodinger, Helmut, Co-Chairman Philippou, A. N. (Cyprus), Co-Chair Grabner, Peter Bergurt:t, G. E. (U. S. A. ) Kirschenhofer, Peter Filipponi, P. (Italy) Harborth, H. (Germany) Horibe, Y. (Japan) Johnson, M. (U. S. A. ) Kiss, P. (Hungary) Phillips, G. M. (Scotland) Turner, J. (New Zealand) Waddill, M. E. (U. S. A. ) xxix LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO THE CONFERENCE *ADELBERG, ARNOLD, "Higher Order Bernoulli Polynomials and Newton Polygons. " AMMANN, ANDRE, "Associated Fibonacci Sequences. " *ANDERSON, PETER G. , "The Fibonacci Shuffle Tree.

This book contains translations of papers from the second volume of the new Russian-language journal published at the Sobolev Institute of Mathematics (Sibe- rian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk) since 1994. In 1994 the journal was titled Sibirskil Zhurnal Issledovaniya Oper- atsil. Since 1995 this journal has the title Diskretny'l Analiz i Issledovanie Operatsi'l (Discrete Analysis and Operations Research). The aim of this journal is to bring together research papers in different areas of discrete mathematics and computer science. The journal DiskretnYl Analiz i Issledovanie Operatsil covers the following fields: * discrete optimization * synthesis and complexity * discrete structures and * of control systems extremal problems * automata * combinatorics * graphs * control and reliability * game theory and its of discrete devices applications * mathematical models and * coding theory methods of decision making * scheduling theory * design and analysis * functional systems theory of algorithms Contributions presented to the journal can be original research papers and occasional survey articles of moderate length. The journal is published in one volume of four issues per year that appear in March, June, September, and December. Each volume contains approximately 400 pages. I express my sincere gratitude to Professor S. S. Kutateladze for his help in editing the English translation.

Asymptotic Combinatorial Coding Theory is devoted to the investigation of the combinatorial properties of transmission systems using discrete signals. The book presents results of interest to specialists in combinatorics seeking to apply combinatorial methods to problems of combinatorial coding theory. Asymptotic Combinatorial Coding Theory serves as an excellent reference for resarchers in discrete mathematics, combinatorics, and combinatorial coding theory, and may be used as a text for advanced courses on the subject.

Itgivesmegreatpleasuretoeditthisbook. Thegenesisofthisbookgoes backtotheconferenceheldattheUniversityofBolognainJune1999,on collaborativeworkbetweentheUniversityofCaliforniaatBerkeleyandthe UniversityofBologna. Theoriginalideawastoinvitesomespeakersatthe conferencetosubmitarticlestothebook. Thescopeofthebookwaslater- hancedand,inthepresentform,itisacompilationofsomeoftherecentwork usinggeometricpartialdi?erentialequationsandthelevelsetmethodology inmedicalandbiomedicalimageanalysis. Thesynopsisofthebookisasfollows:Inthe?rstchapter,R. Malladi andJ. A. Sethianpointtotheoriginsoftheuseoflevelsetmethodsand geometricPDEsforsegmentation,andpresentfastmethodsforshapes- mentationinbothmedicalandbiomedicalimageapplications. InChapter 2,C. OrtizdeSolorzano,R. Malladi,andS. J. Lockettdescribeabodyof workthatwasdoneoverthepastcoupleofyearsattheLawrenceBerkeley NationalLaboratoryonapplicationsoflevelsetmethodsinthestudyand understandingofconfocalmicroscopeimagery. TheworkinChapter3byA. Sarti,C. Lamberti,andR. Malladiaddressestheproblemofunderstanding di?culttimevaryingechocardiographicimagery. Thisworkpresentsvarious levelsetmodelsthataredesignedto?tavarietyofimagingsituations,i. e. timevarying2D,3D,andtimevarying3D. InChapter4,L. VeseandT. F. Chanpresentasegmentationmodelwithoutedgesandalsoshowextensions totheMumford-Shahmodel. Thismodelisparticularlypowerfulincertain applicationswhencomparisonsbetweennormalandabnormalsubjectsis- quired. Next,inChapter5,A. EladandR. Kimmelusethefastmarching methodontriangulateddomaintobuildatechniquetounfoldthecortexand mapitontoasphere. Thistechniqueismotivatedinpartbynewadvances infMRIbasedneuroimaging. InChapter6,T. DeschampsandL. D. Cohen presentaminimalpathbasedmethodofgroupingconnectedcomponentsand showcleverapplicationsinvesseldetectionin3Dmedicaldata. Finally,in Chapter7,A. Sarti,K. Mikula,F. Sgallari,andC. Lamberti,describean- linearmodelfor?lteringtimevarying3Dmedicaldataandshowimpressive resultsinbothultrasoundandechoimages. IoweadebtofgratitudetoClaudioLambertiandAlessandroSartifor invitingmetoBologna,andlogisticalsupportfortheconference. Ithank thecontributingauthorsfortheirenthusiasmand?exibility,theSpringer mathematicseditorMartinPetersforhisoptimismandpatience,andJ. A. Sethianforhisunfailingsupport,goodhumor,andguidancethroughthe years. Berkeley,California R. Malladi October,2001 Contents 1 FastMethodsforShapeExtractioninMedicaland BiomedicalImaging...1 R. Malladi,J. A. Sethian 1. 1Introduction...1 1. 2TheFastMarchingMethod...3 1. 3ShapeRecoveryfromMedicalImages...6 1. 4Results...10 References...13 2 AGeometricModelforImageAnalysisinCytology...19 C. OrtizdeSolorzano,R. Malladi,,S. J. Lockett 2. 1Introduction...19 2. 2GeometricModelforImageAnalysis...20 2. 3SegmentationofNuclei...22 2. 4SegmentationofNucleiandCellsUsingMembrane-RelatedProtein Markers...31 2. 5Conclusions...37 References...38 3 LevelSetModelsforAnalysisof2Dand3D EchocardiographicData...43 A. Sarti,C. Lamberti,R. Malladi 3. 1Introduction...43 3. 2TheGeometricEvolutionEquation...45 3. 3TheShock-TypeFiltering...46 3. 4ShapeExtraction...49 3. 52DEchocardiography...52 3. 62D+timeEchocardiography...53 3. 73DEchocardiography...56 3. 83D+timeEchocardiography...58 3. 9Conclusions...59 References...61 4 ActiveContourandSegmentationModelsusing GeometricPDE'sforMedicalImaging...63 T. F. Chan,L. A. Vese 4. 1Introduction...63 4. 2DescriptionoftheModels...64 4. 3ApplicationstoBio-MedicalImages...68 4. 4ConcludingRemarks...68 References...7 0 VIII Contents 5 SphericalFlatteningoftheCortexSurface...77 A. Elad(Elbaz),R. Kimmel 5. 1Introduction...77 5. 2FastMarchingMethodonTriangulatedDomains...80 5. 3Multi-DimensionalScaling...80 5. 4CortexUnfolding...84 5. 5Conclusions...86 References...86 6 GroupingConnectedComponentsusingMinimalPath Techniques...91 T. Deschamps,L. D. Cohen 6. 1Introduction...91 6. 2MinimalPathsin2Dand3D...93 6. 3FindingContoursfromaSetofConnectedComponentsR...96 k 6. 4FindingaSetofPathsina3DImage...102 6. 5Conclusion...103 References...104 7 NonlinearMultiscaleAnalysisModelsforFilteringof 3D+TimeBiomedicalImages...107 A. Sarti,K. Mikula,F. Sgallari,C.

One of the most effective ways to stimulate students to enjoy intellectual efforts is the scientific competition. In 1894 the Hungarian Mathematical and Physical Society introduced a mathematical competition for high school students. The success of high school competitions led the Mathematical Society to found a college level contest, named after Miklos Schweitzer. The problems of the Schweitzer Contests are proposed and selected by the most prominent Hungarian mathematicians. This book collects the problems posed in the contests between 1962 and 1991 which range from algebra, combinatorics, theory of functions, geometry, measure theory, number theory, operator theory, probability theory, topology, to set theory. The second part contains the solutions. The Schweitzer competition is one of the most unique in the world. The experience shows that this competition helps to identify research talents. This collection of problems and solutions in several fields in mathematics can serve as a guide for many undergraduates and young mathematicians. The large variety of research level problems might be of interest for more mature mathematicians and historians of mathematics as well.

Most networks and databases that humans have to deal with contain large, albeit finite number of units. Their structure, for maintaining functional consistency of the components, is essentially not random and calls for a precise quantitative description of relations between nodes (or data units) and all network components. This book is an introduction, for both graduate students and newcomers to the field, to the theory of graphs and random walks on such graphs. The methods based on random walks and diffusions for exploring the structure of finite connected graphs and databases are reviewed (Markov chain analysis). This provides the necessary basis for consistently discussing a number of applications such diverse as electric resistance networks, estimation of land prices, urban planning, linguistic databases, music, and gene expression regulatory networks.

Modern algorithmic techniques for summation, most of which were introduced in the 1990s, are developed here and carefully implemented in the computer algebra system Maple (TM). The algorithms of Fasenmyer, Gosper, Zeilberger, Petkovsek and van Hoeij for hypergeometric summation and recurrence equations, efficient multivariate summation as well as q-analogues of the above algorithms are covered. Similar algorithms concerning differential equations are considered. An equivalent theory of hyperexponential integration due to Almkvist and Zeilberger completes the book. The combination of these results gives orthogonal polynomials and (hypergeometric and q-hypergeometric) special functions a solid algorithmic foundation. Hence, many examples from this very active field are given. The materials covered are suitable for an introductory course on algorithmic summation and will appeal to students and researchers alike.

This IMA Volume in Mathematics and its Applications GRID GENERATION AND ADAPTIVE ALGORITHMS is based on the proceedings of a workshop with the same title. The work shop was an integral part of the 1996-97 IMA program on "MATHEMAT ICS IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING. " I would like to thank Marshall Bern (Xerox, Palo Alto Research Cen ter), Joseph E. Flaherty (Department of Computer Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), and Mitchell Luskin (School of Mathematics, Uni versity of Minnesota), for their excellent work as organizers of the meeting and for editing the proceedings. I also take this opportunity to thank the National Science Founda tion (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), and the Army Research Office (ARO), whose financial support made the workshop possible. Willard Miller, Jr. , Professor and Director v PREFACE Scientific and engineering computation has become so complex that traditional numerical computation on uniform meshes is generally not pos sible or too expensive. Mesh generation must reflect both the domain geometry and the expected solution characteristics. Meshes should, fur thermore, be related to the solution through computable estimates of dis cretization errors. This, suggests an automatic and adaptive process where an initial mesh is enriched with the goal of computing a solution with prescribed accuracy specifications in an optimal manner. While automatic mesh generation procedures and adaptive strategies are becoming available, major computational challenges remain. Three-dimensional mesh genera tion is still far from automatic.

The articles in this volume present the state of the art in a variety of areas of discrete probability, including random walks on finite and infinite graphs, random trees, renewal sequences, Stein's method for normal approximation and Kohonen-type self-organizing maps. This volume also focuses on discrete probability and its connections with the theory of algorithms. Classical topics in discrete mathematics are represented as are expositions that condense and make readable some recent work on Markov chains, potential theory and the second moment method. This volume is suitable for mathematicians and students.

"Data Correcting Approaches in Combinatorial Optimization" focuses on algorithmic applications of thewell known polynomially solvable special cases of computationally intractable problems. The purpose of this text is to design practically efficient algorithms for solving wide classes of combinatorial optimization problems. Researches, students and engineers will benefit from new bounds and branching rules in development efficient branch-and-bound type computational algorithms. This book examines applications for solving the Traveling Salesman Problem and its variations, Maximum Weight Independent Set Problem, Different Classes of Allocation and Cluster Analysis as well as some classes of Scheduling Problems. Data Correcting Algorithms in Combinatorial Optimization introduces the data correcting approach to algorithms which provide an answer to the following questions: how to construct a bound to the original intractable problem and findwhich element of the corrected instance one should branch such that the total size of search tree will be minimized. The PC time needed for solving intractable problems will be adjusted with the requirements for solving real world problems. "

This is the first book devoted to the systematic study of sparse graphs and sparse finite structures. Although the notion of sparsity appears in various contexts and is a typical example of a hard to define notion, the authors devised an unifying classification of general classes of structures. This approach is very robust and it has many remarkable properties. For example the classification is expressible in many different ways involving most extremal combinatorial invariants. This study of sparse structures found applications in such diverse areas as algorithmic graph theory, complexity of algorithms, property testing, descriptive complexity and mathematical logic (homomorphism preservation,fixed parameter tractability and constraint satisfaction problems). It should be stressed that despite of its generality this approach leads to linear (and nearly linear) algorithms. Jaroslav Nesetril is a professor at Charles University, Prague; Patrice Ossona de Mendez is a CNRS researcher et EHESS, Paris. This book is related to the material presented by the first author at ICM 2010.

Transportation problems belong to the domains mathematical program ming and operations research. Transportation models are widely applied in various fields. Numerous concrete problems (for example, assignment and distribution problems, maximum-flow problem, etc. ) are formulated as trans portation problems. Some efficient methods have been developed for solving transportation problems of various types. This monograph is devoted to transportation problems with minimax cri teria. The classical (linear) transportation problem was posed several decades ago. In this problem, supply and demand points are given, and it is required to minimize the transportation cost. This statement paved the way for numerous extensions and generalizations. In contrast to the original statement of the problem, we consider a min imax rather than a minimum criterion. In particular, a matrix with the minimal largest element is sought in the class of nonnegative matrices with given sums of row and column elements. In this case, the idea behind the minimax criterion can be interpreted as follows. Suppose that the shipment time from a supply point to a demand point is proportional to the amount to be shipped. Then, the minimax is the minimal time required to transport the total amount. It is a common situation that the decision maker does not know the tariff coefficients. In other situations, they do not have any meaning at all, and neither do nonlinear tariff objective functions. In such cases, the minimax interpretation leads to an effective solution.

An Introduction to Grids, Graphs, and Networks aims to provide a concise introduction to graphs and networks at a level that is accessible to scientists, engineers, and students. In a practical approach, the book presents only the necessary theoretical concepts from mathematics and considers a variety of physical and conceptual configurations as prototypes or examples. The subject is timely, as the performance of networks is recognized as an important topic in the study of complex systems with applications in energy, material, and information grid transport (epitomized by the internet). The book is written from the practical perspective of an engineer with some background in numerical computation and applied mathematics, and the text is accompanied by numerous schematic illustrations throughout. In the book, Constantine Pozrikidis provides an original synthesis of concepts and terms from three distinct fields-mathematics, physics, and engineering-and a formal application of powerful conceptual apparatuses, like lattice Green's function, to areas where they have rarely been used. It is novel in that it grids, graphs, and networks are connected using concepts from partial differential equations. This original material has profound implications in the study of networks, and will serve as a resource to readers ranging from undergraduates to experienced scientists.

The author, who died in 1984, is well-known both as a person and through his research in mathematical logic and theoretical computer science. In the first part of the book he presents the new classical theory of finite automata as unary algebras which he himself invented about 30 years ago. Many results, like his work on structure lattices or his characterization of regular sets by generalized regular rules, are unknown to a wider audience. In the second part of the book he extends the theory to general (non-unary, many-sorted) algebras, term rewriting systems, tree automata, and pushdown automata. Essentially Buchi worked independent of other rersearch, following a novel and stimulating approach. He aimed for a mathematical theory of terms, but could not finish the book. Many of the results are known by now, but to work further along this line presents a challenging research program on the borderline between universal algebra, term rewriting systems, and automata theory. For the whole book and again within each chapter the author starts at an elementary level, giving careful explanations and numerous examples and exercises, and then leads up to the research level. In this way he covers the basic theory as well as many nonstandard subjects. Thus the book serves as a textbook for both the beginner and the advances student, and also as a rich source for the expert.

Sphere Packings is one of the most attractive and challenging subjects in mathematics. Almost 4 centuries ago, Kepler studied the densities of sphere packings and made his famous conjecture. In the course of centuries, many exciting results have been obtained, ingenious methods created, related challenging problems proposed, and many surprising connections with othe subjects found. Thus, though some of its original problems are still open, sphere packings has been developed into an important discipline. This book tries to give a full account of this fascinating subject, especially its local aspects, discrete aspects and its proof methods.

These sequences exhibit some surprising properties that make them a fascinating subject for research in combinatorial analysis. This 1995 book on the subject by two of its leading researchers will be an important resource for students and professionals in combinatorics, computational geometry and related fields.

Excellent authors, such as Lovasz, one of the five best combinatorialists in the world; Thematic linking that makes it a coherent collection; Will appeal to a variety of communities, such as mathematics, computer science and operations research