This volume contains a selection of eighteen peer-reviewed articles that were presented at the 5th International Conference on Multivariate Approximation, held in Witten-Bommerholz in September 2002. The contributions cover recent developments of constructive approximation on manifolds, approximation by splines and kernels, subdivision techniques and wavelet methods.
The main topics are:
- applications of multivariate approximation in finance
- approximation and stable reconstruction of images, data reduction
- multivariate splines for Lagrange interpolation and quasi-interpolation
- radial basis functions
- spherical point sets
- refinable function vectors and non-stationary subdivision
- applications of adaptive wavelet methods
- blending functions and cubature formulae
- singularities of harmonic functions
The book provides an overview of state-of-the-art developments in a highly relevant field of applied mathematics, with many links to computer science and geophysics.

This monograph examines and develops the Global Smoothness Preservation Property (GSPP) and the Shape Preservation Property (SPP) in the field of interpolation of functions. The study is developed for the univariate and bivariate cases using well-known classical interpolation operators of Lagrange, GrA1/4nwald, Hermite-FejA(c)r and Shepard type. One of the first books on the subject, it presents interesting new results alongwith an excellent survey of past research.

Key features include:

- potential applications to data fitting, fluid dynamics, curves and surfaces, engineering, and computer-aided geometric design

- presents recent work featuring many new interesting results as well as an excellent survey of past research

- many interesting open problems for future research presented throughout the text

- includes 20 very suggestive figures of nine types of Shepard surfaces concerning their shape preservation property

- generic techniques of the proofs allow for easy application to obtaining similar results for other interpolation operators

This unique, well-written text is best suited to graduate students and researchers in mathematical analysis, interpolation of functions, pure and applied mathematicians in numerical analysis, approximation theory, data fitting, computer-aided geometric design, fluid mechanics, and engineering researchers.

This book consolidates and extends the authors' work on the connection between iconicity and abductive inference. It emphasizes a pragmatic, experimental and fallibilist view of knowledge without sacrificing formal rigor. Within this context, the book focuses particularly on scientific knowledge and its prevalent use of mathematics. To find an answer to the question "What kind of experimental activity is the scientific employment of mathematics?" the book addresses the problems involved in formalizing abductive cognition. For this, it implements the concept and method of iconicity, modeling this theoretical framework mathematically through category theory and topoi. Peirce's concept of iconic signs is treated in depth, and it is shown how Peirce's diagrammatic logical notation of Existential Graphs makes use of iconicity and how important features of this iconicity are representable within category theory. Alain Badiou's set-theoretical model of truth procedures and his relational sheaf-based theory of phenomenology are then integrated within the Peircean logical context. Finally, the book opens the path towards a more naturalist interpretation of the abductive models developed in Peirce and Badiou through an analysis of several recent attempts to reformulate quantum mechanics with categorical methods. Overall, the book offers a comprehensive and rigorous overview of past approaches to iconic semiotics and abduction, and it encompasses new extensions of these methods towards an innovative naturalist interpretation of abductive reasoning.

Customarily, much of traditional mathematics curricula was predicated on 'by hand' calculation. However, ubiquitous computing requires us to refresh what we teach and how it is taught. This is especially true in the rapidly broadening fields of Data Mining and Artificial Intelligence, and also in fields such as Bioinformatics, which all require the use of Singular Value Decomposition (SVD). Indeed, SVD is sometimes called the jewel in the crown of linear algebra. Linear Algebra for 21st Century Applications adapts linear algebra to best suit modern teaching and application, and it places the SVD as central to the text early on to empower science and engineering students to learn and use potent practical and theoretical techniques. No rigour is lost in this new route as the text demonstrates that most theory is better proved with an SVD. In addition to this, there is earlier introduction, development, and emphasis on orthogonality that is vital in so many applied disciplines throughout science, engineering, computing and increasingly within the social sciences. To assimilate the so-called third arm of science, namely computing, Matlab/Octave computation is explicitly integrated into developing the mathematical concepts and applications. A strong graphical emphasis takes advantage of the power of visualisation in the human brain and examples are included to exhibit modern applications of linear algebra, such as GPS, text mining, and image processing. Active learning is encouraged with exercises throughout that are aimed to enhance ectures, quizzes, or 'flipped' teaching.

This volume is a tribute to Maxim Kontsevich, one of the most original and influential mathematicians of our time. Maxim's vision has inspired major developments in many areas of mathematics, ranging all the way from probability theory to motives over finite fields, and has brought forth a paradigm shift at the interface of modern geometry and mathematical physics. Many of his papers have opened completely new directions of research and led to the solutions of many classical problems. This book collects papers by leading experts currently engaged in research on topics close to Maxim's heart. Contributors: S. Donaldson A. Goncharov D. Kaledin M. Kapranov A. Kapustin L. Katzarkov A. Noll P. Pandit S. Pimenov J. Ren P. Seidel C. Simpson Y. Soibelman R. Thorngren

This book is of interest to mathematicians, geologists, engineers and, in general, researchers and post graduate students involved in spline function theory, surface fitting problems or variational methods. From reviews: The book is well organized, and the English is very good. I recommend the book to researchers in approximation theory, and to anyone interested in bivariate data fitting." (L.L. Schumaker, Mathematical Reviews, 2005).

Shape theory is an extension of homotopy theory from the realm of CW-complexes to arbitrary spaces. Besides applications in topology, it has interesting applications in various other areas of mathematics, especially in dynamical systems and C*-algebras. Strong shape is a refinement of ordinary shape with distinct advantages over the latter. Strong homology generalizes Steenrod homology and is an invariant of strong shape. The book gives a detailed account based on approximation of spaces by polyhedra (ANR's) using the technique of inverse systems. It is intended for researchers and graduate students. Special care is devoted to motivation and bibliographic notes.

Created to teach students many of the most important techniques used for constructing combinatorial designs, this is an ideal textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in combinatiorial design theory. The text features clear explanations of basic designs, such as Steiner and Kirkman triple systems, mutual orthogonal Latin squares, finite projective and affine planes, and Steiner quadruple systems. In these settings, the student will master various construction techniques, both classic and modern, and will be well-prepared to construct a vast array of combinatorial designs. Design theory offers a progressive approach to the subject, with carefully ordered results. It begins with simple constructions that gradually increase in complexity. Each design has a construction that contains new ideas or that reinforces and builds upon similar ideas previously introduced. A new text/reference covering all apsects of modern combinatorial design theory. Graduates and professionals in computer science, applied math, combinatorics, and applied statistics will find the book an essential resource.

This collection documents the work of the Hyperuniverse Project which is a new approach to set-theoretic truth based on justifiable principles and which leads to the resolution of many questions independent from ZFC. The contributions give an overview of the program, illustrate its mathematical content and implications, and also discuss its philosophical assumptions. It will thus be of wide appeal among mathematicians and philosophers with an interest in the foundations of set theory. The Hyperuniverse Project was supported by the John Templeton Foundation from January 2013 until September 2015

"Categorical Perspectives" consists of introductory surveys as well as articles containing original research and complete proofs devoted mainly to the theoretical and foundational developments of category theory and its applications to other fields. A number of articles in the areas of topology, algebra and computer science reflect the varied interests of George Strecker to whom this work is dedicated. Notable also are an exposition of the contributions and importance of George Strecker's research and a survey chapter on general category theory. This work is an excellent reference text for researchers and graduate students in category theory and related areas.

Contributors: H.L. Bentley * G. Castellini * R. El Bashir * H. Herrlich * M. Husek * L. Janos * J. Koslowski * V.A. Lemin * A. Melton * G. Preua * Y.T. Rhineghost * B.S.W. Schroeder * L. Schr"der * G.E. Strecker * A. Zmrzlina"

This volume contains revised papers that were presented at the international workshop entitled Computational Methods for Algebraic Spline Surfaces ("COMPASS"), which was held from September 29 to October 3, 2003, at Schloss Weinberg, Kefermarkt (A- tria). The workshop was mainly devoted to approximate algebraic geometry and its - plications. The organizers wanted to emphasize the novel idea of approximate implici- zation, that has strengthened the existing link between CAD / CAGD (Computer Aided Geometric Design) and classical algebraic geometry. The existing methods for exact implicitization (i. e., for conversion from the parametric to an implicit representation of a curve or surface) require exact arithmetic and are too slow and too expensive for industrial use. Thus the duality of an implicit representation and a parametric repres- tation is only used for low degree algebraic surfaces such as planes, spheres, cylinders, cones and toroidal surfaces. On the other hand, this duality is a very useful tool for - veloping ef?cient algorithms. Approximate implicitization makes this duality available for general curves and surfaces. The traditional exact implicitization of parametric surfaces produce global rep- sentations, which are exact everywhere. The surface patches used in CAD, however, are always de?ned within a small box only; they are obtained for a bounded parameter domain (typically a rectangle, or - in the case of "trimmed" surface patches - a subset of a rectangle). Consequently, a globally exact representation is not really needed in practice."

Feller Semigroups, Bernstein type Operators and Generalized Convexity Associated with Positive Projections.- Gregory's Rational Cubic Splines in Interpolation Subject to Derivative Obstacles.- Interpolation by Splines on Triangulations Oleg Davydov.- On the Use of Quasi-Newton Methods in DAE-Codes.- On the Regularity of Some Differential Operators.- Some Inequalities for Trigonometric Polynomials and their Derivatives.- Inf-Convolution and Radial Basis Functions.- On a Special Property of the Averaged Modulus for Functions of Bounded Variation.- A Simple Approach to the Variational Theory for Interpolation on Spheres.- Constants in Comonotone Polynomial Approximation - A Survey.- Will Ramanujan kill Baker-Gammel-Wills? (A Selective Survey of Pade Approximation).- Approximation Operators of Binomial Type.- Certain Results involving Gammaoperators.- Recent research at Cambridge on radial basis functions.- Representation of quasi-interpolants as differential operators and applications.- Native Hilbert Spaces for Radial Basis Functions I.- Adaptive Approximation with Walsh-similar Functions.- Dual Recurrence and Christoffel-Darboux-Type Formulas for Orthogonal Polynomials.- On Some Problems of Weighted Polynomial Approximation and Interpolation.- Asymptotics of derivatives of orthogonal polynomials based on generalized Jacobi weights. Some new theorems and applications.- List of participants.

The Bachelier Society for Mathematical Finance, founded in 1996, held its 1st World Congress in Paris on June 28 to July 1, 2000, thus coinciding in time with the centenary of the thesis defence of Louis Bachelier. In his thesis Bachelier introduced Brownian motion as a tool for the analysis of financial markets as well as the exact definition of options, and this is widely considered the keystone for the emergence of mathematical finance as a scientific discipline. The prestigious list of plenary speakers in Paris included 2 Nobel laureates, Paul Samuelson and Robert Merton. Over 130 further selected talks were given in 3 parallel sessions, all well attended by the over 500 participants who registered from all continents.

This monograph presents a comprehensive introduction to timed automata (TA) and time Petri nets (TPNs) which belong to the most widely used models of real-time systems. Some of the existing methods of translating time Petri nets to timed automata are presented, with a focus on the translations that correspond to the semantics of time Petri nets, associating clocks with various components of the nets.

Blending Approximations with Sine Functions.- Quasi-interpolation in the Absence of Polynomial Reproduction.- Estimating the Condition Number for Multivariate Interpolation Problems.- Wavelets on a Bounded Interval.- Quasi-Kernel Polynomials and Convergence Results for Quasi-Minimal Residual Iterations.- Rate of Approximation of Weighted Derivatives by Linear Combinations of SMD Operators.- Approximation by Multivariate Splines: an Application of Boolean Methods.- Lm, ?, s-Splines in ?d.- Constructive Multivariate Approximation via Sigmoidal Functions with Applications to Neural Networks.- Spline-Wavelets of Minimal Support.- Necessary Conditions for Local Best Chebyshev Approximations by Splines with Free Knots.- C1 Interpolation on Higher-Dimensional Analogs of the 4-Direction Mesh.- Tabulation of Thin Plate Splines on a Very Fine Two-Dimensional Grid.- The L2-Approximation Orders of Principal Shift-Invariant Spaces Generated by a Radial Basis Function.- A Multi-Parameter Method for Nonlinear Least-Squares Approximation.- Analog VLSI Networks.- Converse Theorems for Approximation on Discrete Sets II.- A Dual Method for Smoothing Histograms using Nonnegative C1-Splines.- Segment Approximation By Using Linear Functionals.- Construction of Monotone Extensions to Boundary Function

Self-contained, and collating for the first time material that has until now only been published in journals - often in Russian - this book will be of interest to functional analysts, especially those with interests in topological vector spaces, and to algebraists concerned with category theory. The closed graph theorem is one of the corner stones of functional analysis, both as a tool for applications and as an object for research. However, some of the spaces which arise in applications and for which one wants closed graph theorems are not of the type covered by the classical closed graph theorem of Banach or its immediate extensions. To remedy this, mathematicians such as Schwartz and De Wilde (in the West) and Rajkov (in the East) have introduced new ideas which have allowed them to establish closed graph theorems suitable for some of the desired applications. In this book, Professor Smirnov uses category theory to provide a very general framework, including the situations discussed by De Wilde, Rajkov and others. General properties of the spaces involved are discussed and applications are provided in measure theory, global analysis and differential equations.

This monograph provides a definitive overview of recent advances in the stability and oscillation of autonomous delay differential equations. Topics include linear and nonlinear delay and integrodifferential equations, which have potential applications to both biological and physical dynamic processes. Chapter 1 deals with an analysis of the dynamical characteristics of the delay logistic equation, and a number of techniques and results relating to stability, oscillation and comparison of scalar delay and integrodifferential equations are presented. Chapter 2 provides a tutorial-style introduction to the study of delay-induced Hopf bifurcation to periodicity and the related computations for the analysis of the stability of bifurcating periodic solutions. Chapter 3 is devoted to local analyses of nonlinear model systems and discusses many methods applicable to linear equations and their perturbations. Chapter 4 considers global convergence to equilibrium states of nonlinear systems, and includes oscillations of nonlinear systems about their equilibria. Qualitative analyses of both competitive and cooperative systems with time delays feature in both Chapters 3 and 4. Finally, Chapter 5 deals with recent developments in models of neutral differential equations and their applications to population dynamics. Each chapter concludes with a number of exercises and the overall exposition recommends this volume as a good supplementary text for graduate courses. For mathematicians whose work involves functional differential equations, and whose interest extends beyond the boundaries of linear stability analysis.