'Et moi, ..., si j'avait su comment en revenir, One service mathematics has rendered the human race. It has put common sense back je n'y serais point aile.' where it belongs, on the topmost shelf next Jules Verne to the dusty canister labelled 'discarded n- sense'. The series is divergent; therefore we may be Eric T. Bell able to do something with it. O. Hcaviside Mathematics is a tool for thought. A highly necessary tool in a world where both feedback and non linearities abound. Similarly, all kinds of parts of mathematics seNe as tools for other parts and for other sciences. Applying a simple rewriting rule to the quote on the right above one finds such statements as: 'One seIVice topology has rendered mathematical physics .. .'; 'One service logic has rendered com puter science .. .'; 'One service category theory has rendered mathematics .. .'. All arguably true. And all statements obtainable this way form part of the raison d'j tre of this series."

This monograph has two main objectives. The first one is to give a self-contained exposition of the relevant facts about set operads, in the context of combinatorial species and its operations. This approach has various advantages: one of them is that the definition of combinatorial operations on species, product, sum, substitution and derivative, are simple and natural. They were designed as the set theoretical counterparts of the homonym operations on exponential generating functions, giving an immediate insight on the combinatorial meaning of them. The second objective is more ambitious. Before formulating it, authors present a brief historic account on the sources of decomposition theory. For more than forty years decompositions of discrete structures have been studied in different branches of discrete mathematics: combinatorial optimization, network and graph theory, switching design or boolean functions, simple multi-person games and clutters, etc.

This book addresses new questions related to the asymptotic description of converging energies from the standpoint of local minimization and variational evolution. It explores the links between Gamma-limits, quasistatic evolution, gradient flows and stable points, raising new questions and proposing new techniques. These include the definition of effective energies that maintain the pattern of local minima, the introduction of notions of convergence of energies compatible with stable points, the computation of homogenized motions at critical time-scales through the definition of minimizing movement along a sequence of energies, the use of scaled energies to study long-term behavior or backward motion for variational evolutions. The notions explored in the book are linked to existing findings for gradient flows, energetic solutions and local minimizers, for which some generalizations are also proposed.

"Descriptive Topology in Selected Topics of Functional Analysis" is a collection of recent developments in the field of descriptive topology, specifically focused on the classes of infinite-dimensional topological vector spaces that appear in functional analysis. Such spaces include Frechet spaces, (LF)-spaces and their duals, and the space of continuous real-valued functions C(X) on a completely regular Hausdorff space X, to name a few. These vector spaces appear in functional analysis in distribution theory, differential equations, complex analysis, and various other analytical settings. This monograph provides new insights into the connections between the topological properties of linear function spaces and their applications in functional analysis.

This paper is a largely expository account of the theory of p x p matrix polyno mials associated with Hermitian block Toeplitz matrices and some related problems of interpolation and extension. Perhaps the main novelty is the use of reproducing kernel Pontryagin spaces to develop parts of the theory in what hopefully the reader will regard as a reasonably lucid way. The topics under discussion are presented in a series of short sections, the headings of which give a pretty good idea of the overall contents of the paper. The theory is a rich one and the present paper in spite of its length is far from complete. The author hopes to fill in some of the gaps in future publications. The story begins with a given sequence h_n" ... , hn of p x p matrices with h-i = hj for j = 0, ... , n. We let k = O, ... ,n, (1.1) denote the Hermitian block Toeplitz matrix based on ho, ... , hk and shall denote its 1 inverse H k by (k)] k [ r = .. k = O, ... ,n, (1.2) k II} . '-0 ' I- whenever Hk is invertible.

Et moi, .... si j'avait su comment en revenir. One service mathematics has rendered the je n'y serais poin t aUe.. human race. It has put common sense back Jules Verne where it belongs, on the topmost shelf next to the dusty canister labelled 'discarded non. sense', The series is divergent; therefore we may be able to do something with it. Eric T. Bell o. lleaviside Mathematics is a tool for thought. A highly necessary tool in a world where both feedback and non linearities abound. Similarly, all kinds of parts of mathematics serve as tools for other parts and for other sciences. Applying a simple rewriting rule to the quote on the right above one finds such statements as: 'One service topology has rendered mathematical physics .. .'; 'One service logic has rendered com. puter science .. .'; 'One service category theory has rendered mathematics .. .'. All arguably true. And all statements obtainable this way form part of the raison d'e1re of this series."

In this volume we will present some applications of special functions in computer science. This largely consists of adaptations of articles that have appeared in the literature . Here they are presented in a format made accessible for the non-expert by providing some context. The material on group representations and Young tableaux is introductory in nature. However, the algebraic approach of Chapter 2 is original to the authors and has not appeared previously . Similarly, the material and approach based on Appell states, so formulated, is presented here for the first time . As in all volumes of this series, this one is suitable for self-study by researchers . It is as well appropriate as a text for a course or advanced seminar . The solutions are tackled with the help of various analytical techniques, such as g- erating functions, and probabilistic methods/insights appear regularly . An interesting feature is that, as has been the case in classical applications to physics, special functions arise- here in complexity analysis. And, as in physics, their appearance indicates an underlying Lie structure. Our primary audience is applied mathematicians and theoretical computer scientists . We are quite sure that pure mathematicians will find this volume interesting and useful as well .

Special functions enable us to formulate a scientific problem by reduction such that a new, more concrete problem can be attacked within a well-structured framework, usually in the context of differential equations. A good understanding of special functions provides the capacity to recognize the causality between the abstractness of the mathematical concept and both the impact on and cross-sectional importance to the scientific reality. The special functions to be discussed in this monograph vary greatly, depending on the measurement parameters examined (gravitation, electric and magnetic fields, deformation, climate observables, fluid flow, etc.) and on the respective field characteristic (potential field, diffusion field, wave field). The differential equation under consideration determines the type of special functions that are needed in the desired reduction process. Each chapter closes with exercises that reflect significant topics, mostly in computational applications. As a result, readers are not only directly confronted with the specific contents of each chapter, but also with additional knowledge on mathematical fields of research, where special functions are essential to application. All in all, the book is an equally valuable resource for education in geomathematics and the study of applied and harmonic analysis. Students who wish to continue with further studies should consult the literature given as supplements for each topic covered in the exercises.

This volume, setting out the theory of positive maps as it stands today, reflects the rapid growth in this area of mathematics since it was recognized in the 1990s that these applications of C*-algebras are crucial to the study of entanglement in quantum theory. The author, a leading authority on the subject, sets out numerous results previously unpublished in book form. In addition to outlining the properties and structures of positive linear maps of operator algebras into the bounded operators on a Hilbert space, he guides readers through proofs of the Stinespring theorem and its applications to inequalities for positive maps. The text examines the maps' positivity properties, as well as their associated linear functionals together with their density operators. It features special sections on extremal positive maps and Choi matrices. In sum, this is a vital publication that covers a full spectrum of matters relating to positive linear maps, of which a large proportion is relevant and applicable to today's quantum information theory. The latter sections of the book present the material in finite dimensions, while the text as a whole appeals to a wider and more general readership by keeping the mathematics as elementary as possible throughout.

It has been widely recognized nowadays the importance of introducing mathematical models that take into account possible sudden changes in the dynamical behavior of a high-integrity systems or a safety-critical system. Such systems can be found in aircraft control, nuclear power stations, robotic manipulator systems, integrated communication networks and large-scale flexible structures for space stations, and are inherently vulnerable to abrupt changes in their structures caused by component or interconnection failures. In this regard, a particularly interesting class of models is the so-called Markov jump linear systems (MJLS), which have been used in numerous applications including robotics, economics and wireless communication. Combining probability and operator theory, the present volume provides a unified and rigorous treatment of recent results in control theory of continuous-time MJLS. This unique approach is of great interest to experts working in the field of linear systems with Markovian jump parameters or in stochastic control. The volume focuses on one of the few cases of stochastic control problems with an actual explicit solution and offers material well-suited to coursework, introducing students to an interesting and active research area. The book is addressed to researchers working in control and signal processing engineering. Prerequisites include a solid background in classical linear control theory, basic familiarity with continuous-time Markov chains and probability theory, and some elementary knowledge of operator theory.

Jordan theory has developed rapidly in the last three decades, but very few books describe its diverse applications. Here, the author discusses some recent advances of Jordan theory in differential geometry, complex and functional analysis, with the aid of numerous examples and concise historical notes. These include: the connection between Jordan and Lie theory via the Tits-Kantor-Koecher construction of Lie algebras; a Jordan algebraic approach to infinite dimensional symmetric manifolds including Riemannian symmetric spaces; the one-to-one correspondence between bounded symmetric domains and JB*-triples; and applications of Jordan methods in complex function theory. The basic structures and some functional analytic properties of JB*-triples are also discussed. The book is a convenient reference for experts in complex geometry or functional analysis, as well as an introduction to these areas for beginning researchers. The recent applications of Jordan theory discussed in the book should also appeal to algebraists.

These Proceedings include 42 of the 49 invited conference papers, three papers sub mitted subsequently, and a report devoted to new and unsolved problems based on two special problem sessions and as augmented by later communications from the participants. In addition, there are four short accounts that emphasize the personality of the scholars to whom the proceedings are dedicated. Due to the large number of contributors, the length of the papers had to be restricted. This volume is again devoted to recent significant results obtained in approximation theory, harmonic analysis, functional analysis, and operator theory. The papers solicited include in addition survey articles that not only describe fundamental advances in their subfields, but many also emphasize basic interconnections between the various research areas. They tend to reflect the range of interests of the organizers and of their immediate colleagues and collaborators. The papers have been grouped according to subject matter into ten chapters. Chap ter I, on operator theory, is devoted to certain classes of operators such as contraction, hyponormal, and accretive operators, as well as to suboperators and semi groups of operators. Chapter II, on functional analysis, contains papers on function spaces, algebras, ideals, and generalized functions. Chapter III, on abstract approximation, is concerned with the comparison of approximation processes, the gliding hump method, certain inter polation spaces, and n-widths."

The purpose of this book is to provide an integrated course in real and complex analysis for those who have already taken a preliminary course in real analysis. It particularly emphasises the interplay between analysis and topology. Beginning with the theory of the Riemann integral (and its improper extension) on the real line, the fundamentals of metric spaces are then developed, with special attention being paid to connectedness, simple connectedness and various forms of homotopy. The final chapter develops the theory of complex analysis, in which emphasis is placed on the argument, the winding number, and a general (homology) version of Cauchy's theorem which is proved using the approach due to Dixon. Special features are the inclusion of proofs of Montel's theorem, the Riemann mapping theorem and the Jordan curve theorem that arise naturally from the earlier development. Extensive exercises are included in each of the chapters, detailed solutions of the majority of which are given at the end. From Real to Complex Analysis is aimed at senior undergraduates and beginning graduate students in mathematics. It offers a sound grounding in analysis; in particular, it gives a solid base in complex analysis from which progress to more advanced topics may be made.

Pierre Grisvard, one of the most distinguished French mathematicians, died on April 22, 1994. A Conference was held in November 1994 out of which grew the invited articles contained in this volume. All of the papers are related to functional analysis applied to partial differential equations, which was Grisvard's specialty. Indeed his knowledge of this area was extremely broad. He began his career as one of the very first students of Jacques Louis Lions, and in 1965, he presented his "State Thesis" on interpolation spaces, using in particular, spectral theory for linear operators in Banach spaces. After 1970, he became a specialist in the study of optimal regularity for par tial differential equations with boundary conditions. He studied singulari ties coming from coefficients, boundary conditions, and mainly non-smooth domains, and left a legacy of precise results which have been published in journals and books. Pierre Grisvard spent most of his career as a full professor at the University of Nice, where he started in 1967. For shorter or longer periods, he visited several foreign countries, and collaborated with some of the most famous mathematicians in his field. He was also an excellent organizer and directed a large number of Ph.D. students. Finally, this volume contains a bibliography of Grisvard's works as well as one paper which he wrote and which has not been published before."

The "extensions" of rings and modules have yet to be explored in detailin aresearch monograph. This book presents state of the art research and also stimulating new and further research. Broken into three parts, Part I beginswith basic notions, terminology, definitions and a description of the classes of rings and modules. Part II considers the transference ofconditions between a base ring or module and its extensions. And Part III utilizes the concept of a minimal essental extension with respect to a specific class (a hull).

Mathematical interdisciplinary applications appear throughout. Major applications of the ring and module theory to Functional Analysis, especially "C"*-algebras, appear in Part III, make thisbook ofinterest toAlgebra and Functional Analysis researchers. Notes and exercises at the end of every chapter, and open problems at the end of all three parts, lend this as an ideal textbook forgraduate or advanced undergradate students."

This book is devoted to conservative realizations of various classes of Stieltjes, inverse Stieltjes, and general Herglotz-Nevanlinna functions as impedance functions of linear systems. The main feature of the monograph is a new approach to the realization theory profoundly involving developed extension theory in triplets of rigged Hilbert spaces and unbounded operators as state-space operators of linear systems. The connections of the realization theory to systems with accretive, sectorial, and contractive state-space operators as well as to the Phillips-Kato sectorial extension problem, the Krein-von Neumann and Friedrichs extremal extensions are provided. Among other results the book contains applications to the inverse problems for linear systems with non-self-adjoint Schroedinger operators, Jacobi matrices, and to the Nevanlinna-Pick system interpolation.

A condensing (or densifying) operator is a mapping under which the image of any set is in a certain sense more compact than the set itself. The degree of noncompactness of a set is measured by means of functions called measures of noncompactness. The contractive maps and the compact maps [i.e., in this Introduction, the maps that send any bounded set into a relatively compact one; in the main text the term "compact" will be reserved for the operators that, in addition to having this property, are continuous, i.e., in the authors' terminology, for the completely continuous operators] are condensing. For contractive maps one can take as measure of noncompactness the diameter of a set, while for compact maps can take the indicator function of a family of non-relatively com pact sets. The operators of the form F( x) = G( x, x), where G is contractive in the first argument and compact in the second, are also condensing with respect to some natural measures of noncompactness. The linear condensing operators are characterized by the fact that almost all of their spectrum is included in a disc of radius smaller than one. The examples given above show that condensing operators are a sufficiently typical phenomenon in various applications of functional analysis, for example, in the theory of differential and integral equations. As is turns out, the condensing operators have properties similar to the compact ones.

Methods of signal analysis represent a broad research topic with applications in many disciplines, including engineering, technology, biomedicine, seismography, eco nometrics, and many others based upon the processing of observed variables. Even though these applications are widely different, the mathematical background be hind them is similar and includes the use of the discrete Fourier transform and z-transform for signal analysis, and both linear and non-linear methods for signal identification, modelling, prediction, segmentation, and classification. These meth ods are in many cases closely related to optimization problems, statistical methods, and artificial neural networks. This book incorporates a collection of research papers based upon selected contri butions presented at the First European Conference on Signal Analysis and Predic tion (ECSAP-97) in Prague, Czech Republic, held June 24-27, 1997 at the Strahov Monastery. Even though the Conference was intended as a European Conference, at first initiated by the European Association for Signal Processing (EURASIP), it was very gratifying that it also drew significant support from other important scientific societies, including the lEE, Signal Processing Society of IEEE, and the Acoustical Society of America. The organizing committee was pleased that the re sponse from the academic community to participate at this Conference was very large; 128 summaries written by 242 authors from 36 countries were received. In addition, the Conference qualified under the Continuing Professional Development Scheme to provide PD units for participants and contributors.

One of the basic interpolation problems from our point of view is the problem of building a scalar rational function if its poles and zeros with their multiplicities are given. If one assurnes that the function does not have a pole or a zero at infinity, the formula which solves this problem is (1) where Zl , " " Z/ are the given zeros with given multiplicates nl, " " n / and Wb" " W are the given p poles with given multiplicities ml, . . . ,m , and a is an arbitrary nonzero number. p An obvious necessary and sufficient condition for solvability of this simplest Interpolation pr- lern is that Zj :f: wk(1~ j ~ 1, 1~ k~ p) and nl +. . . +n/ = ml +. . . +m ' p The second problem of interpolation in which we are interested is to build a rational matrix function via its zeros which on the imaginary line has modulus 1. In the case the function is scalar, the formula which solves this problem is a Blaschke product, namely z z. )mi n u(z) = all = l~ (2) J ( Z+ Zj where [o] = 1, and the zj's are the given zeros with given multiplicities mj. Here the necessary and sufficient condition for existence of such u(z) is that zp :f: - Zq for 1~ ]1, q~ n.

The idea of optimization runs through most parts of control theory. The simplest optimal controls are preplanned (programmed) ones. The problem of constructing optimal preplanned controls has been extensively worked out in literature (see, e. g., the Pontrjagin maximum principle giving necessary conditions of preplanned control optimality). However, the concept of op timality itself has a restrictive character: it is limited by what one means under optimality in each separate case. The internal contradictoriness of the preplanned control optimality ("the better is the enemy of the good") yields that the practical significance of optimal preplanned controls proves to be not great: such controls are usually sensitive to unregistered disturbances (includ ing the round-off errors which are inevitable when computer devices are used for forming controls), as there is the effect of disturbance accumulation in the control process which makes controls to be of little use on large time inter vals. This gap is mainly provoked by oversimplified settings of optimization problems. The outstanding result of control theory established in the end of the first half of our century is that controls in feedback form ensure the weak sensitivity of closed loop systems with respect to "small" unregistered internal and external disturbances acting in them (here we do not need to discuss performance indexes, since the considered phenomenon is of general nature). But by far not all optimal preplanned controls can be represented in a feedback form."

The volume contains selected papers of the Spectral Function Theory seminar, Leningrad Branch of Steklov Mathematical Institute. The papers are mostly devoted to the theory of Toeplitz and model operators. These subjects are considered here from various points of view. Several papers concern the relationships of Toeplitz operators to weighted polynomial approximation. Namely, two papers by B. Solomyak and A. Volberg intensively treat the problem of spectra! multiplicity f~r analytic Toeplitz operators (which are, in fact, multiplication operators) and my paper can serve as an introduction to the problem. This theme of multiplicities is continued in a paper by V. Vasyunin where the multiplicity of the spectrum is computed for Hilbert space contractions with finite defect indices. V. Peller's paper deals with a perturbation theory problem for Toeplitz operators. In a paper by D. Yakubovich a new similarity model for a class of Toeplitz operators is constructed. S. Treil' presents a survey of a part of spectral function theory for vector valued function (Szego-Kolmogorov extreme prob!ems for operator weights, bases of vector rational functions, estimations of Hilbert transform with respect to operator weights, the operator corona problem). As a concluding remark I dare only note that the whole collection convinces us once more without a doubt of the fruitfullness of the natural union of operator theory and complex analysis (if at all the union of these fields is at all different from their intersection).

A four-day conference, "Functional Analysis on the Eve of the Twenty First Century," was held at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, from October 24 to 27, 1993, in honor of the eightieth birthday of Professor Israel Moiseyevich Gelfand. He was born in Krasnye Okna, near Odessa, on September 2, 1913. Israel Gelfand has played a crucial role in the development of functional analysis during the last half-century. His work and his philosophy have in fact helped to shape our understanding of the term "functional analysis" itself, as has the celebrated journal Functional Analysis and Its Applications, which he edited for many years. Functional analysis appeared at the beginning of the century in the classic papers of Hilbert on integral operators. Its crucial aspect was the geometric interpretation of families of functions as infinite-dimensional spaces, and of op erators (particularly differential and integral operators) as infinite-dimensional analogues of matrices, directly leading to the geometrization of spectral theory. This view of functional analysis as infinite-dimensional geometry organically included many facets of nineteenth-century classical analysis, such as power series, Fourier series and integrals, and other integral transforms.