Semidefinite programming has been described as linear programming for the year 2000. It is an exciting new branch of mathematical programming, due to important applications in control theory, combinatorial optimization and other fields. Moreover, the successful interior point algorithms for linear programming can be extended to semidefinite programming.
In this monograph the basic theory of interior point algorithms is explained. This includes the latest results on the properties of the central path as well as the analysis of the most important classes of algorithms. Several "classic" applications of semidefinite programming are also described in detail. These include the Lov sz theta function and the MAX-CUT approximation algorithm by Goemans and Williamson.
Audience: Researchers or graduate students in optimization or related fields, who wish to learn more about the theory and applications of semidefinite programming.

'Optimization Day' (OD) has been a series of annual mini-conferences in Aus tralia since 1994. The purpose of this series of events is to gather researchers in optimization and its related areas from Australia and their collaborators, in order to exchange new developments of optimization theories, methods and their applications. The first four OD mini-conferences were held in The Uni versity of Ballarat (1994), The University of New South Wales (1995), The University of Melbourne (1996) and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1997), respectively. They were all on the eastern coast of Australia. The fifth mini-conference Optimization Days was held at the Centre for Ap plied Dynamics and Optimization (CADO), Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Western Australia, Perth, from 29 to 30 June 1998. This is the first time the OD mini-conference has been held at the west ern coast of Australia. This fifth OD preceded the International Conference on Optimization: Techniques and Applications (ICOTA) held at Curtin Uni versity of Technology. Many participants attended both events. There were 28 participants in this year's mini-conference and 22 presentations in the mini conference. The presentations in this volume are refereed contributions based on papers presented at the fifth Optimization Days mini-conference. The volume is di vided into the following parts: Global Optimization, Nonsmooth Optimization, Optimization Methods and Applications."

This book reflects a significant part of authors' research activity dur ing the last ten years. The present monograph is constructed on the results obtained by the authors through their direct cooperation or due to the authors separately or in cooperation with other mathematicians. All these results fit in a unitary scheme giving the structure of this work. The book is mainly addressed to researchers and scholars in Pure and Applied Mathematics, Mechanics, Physics and Engineering. We are greatly indebted to Viorica Venera Motreanu for the careful reading of the manuscript and helpful comments on important issues. We are also grateful to our Editors of Kluwer Academic Publishers for their professional assistance. Our deepest thanks go to our numerous scientific collaborators and friends, whose work was so important for us. D. Motreanu and V. Radulescu IX Introduction The present monograph is based on original results obtained by the authors in the last decade. This book provides a comprehensive expo sition of some modern topics in nonlinear analysis with applications to the study of several classes of boundary value problems. Our framework includes multivalued elliptic problems with discontinuities, variational inequalities, hemivariational inequalities and evolution problems. The treatment relies on variational methods, monotonicity principles, topo logical arguments and optimization techniques. Excepting Sections 1 and 3 in Chapter 1 and Sections 1 and 3 in Chapter 2, the material is new in comparison with any other book, representing research topics where the authors contributed. The outline of our work is the following."

Nonlinear Assignment Problems (NAPs) are natural extensions of the classic Linear Assignment Problem, and despite the efforts of many researchers over the past three decades, they still remain some of the hardest combinatorial optimization problems to solve exactly. The purpose of this book is to provide in a single volume, major algorithmic aspects and applications of NAPs as contributed by leading international experts. The chapters included in this book are concerned with major applications and the latest algorithmic solution approaches for NAPs. Approximation algorithms, polyhedral methods, semidefinite programming approaches and heuristic procedures for NAPs are included, while applications of this problem class in the areas of multiple-target tracking in the context of military surveillance systems, of experimental high energy physics, and of parallel processing are presented. Audience: Researchers and graduate students in the areas of combinatorial optimization, mathematical programming, operations research, physics, and computer science.

Semi-infinite programming (SIP) deals with optimization problems in which either the number of decision variables or the number of constraints is finite. This book presents the state of the art in SIP in a suggestive way, bringing the powerful SIP tools close to the potential users in different scientific and technological fields. The volume is divided into four parts. Part I reviews the first decade of SIP (1962-1972). Part II analyses convex and generalised SIP, conic linear programming, and disjunctive programming. New numerical methods for linear, convex, and continuously differentiable SIP problems are proposed in Part III. Finally, Part IV provides an overview of the applications of SIP to probability, statistics, experimental design, robotics, optimization under uncertainty, production games, and separation problems. Audience: This book is an indispensable reference and source for advanced students and researchers in applied mathematics and engineering.

Decomposition methods aim to reduce large-scale problems to simpler problems. This monograph presents selected aspects of the dimension-reduction problem. Exact and approximate aggregations of multidimensional systems are developed and from a known model of input-output balance, aggregation methods are categorized. The issues of loss of accuracy, recovery of original variables (disaggregation), and compatibility conditions are analyzed in detail. The method of iterative aggregation in large-scale problems is studied. For fixed weights, successively simpler aggregated problems are solved and the convergence of their solution to that of the original problem is analyzed. An introduction to block integer programming is considered. Duality theory, which is widely used in continuous block programming, does not work for the integer problem. A survey of alternative methods is presented and special attention is given to combined methods of decomposition. Block problems in which the coupling variables do not enter the binding constraints are studied. These models are worthwhile because they permit a decomposition with respect to primal and dual variables by two-level algorithms instead of three-level algorithms. Audience: This book is addressed to specialists in operations research, optimization, and optimal control.

Supply Chain Optimization captures the latest results in a segment of current research activity in supply chain management. This research area focuses on applying optimization techniques to supply chain management problems. The research papers that make up the volume provide a snapshot of state-of-the-art optimization methods within the field. This book presents rigorous modelling approaches for supply chain operations problems with a goal of improving supply chain performance (or the performance of some segment thereof). It contains high-quality works from leading researchers in the field whose expertise fits within this scope. The book provides a diverse blend of research topics and novel modelling and solution approaches for difficult classes of supply chain operations, planning, and design problems.

A path player game is a new innovative type of game which considers network flow problems from the viewpoint of network owners. This strategy enables modeling real-world problems and has many practical applications.

Key features:

* Presents a rigorous exposition of the theoretical foundations of the concept of a path player game;

* Suggests 18 practical open problems for future research in such areas as traffic planning, computation of equilibria, and optimization;

* Examines potentials for games on polyhedra as well as integer versions of generalized Nash equilibria.

Written clearly, with well-presented mathematics, this book is intended for graduate students, mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists.

Cellular Genetic Algorithms defines a new class of optimization algorithms based on the concepts of structured populations and Genetic Algorithms (GAs). The authors explain and demonstrate the validity of these cellular genetic algorithms throughout the book with equal and parallel emphasis on both theory and practice. This book is a key source for studying and designing cellular GAs, as well as a self-contained primary reference book for these algorithms.

Metaheuristics: Progress as Real Problem Solvers is a peer-reviewed volume of eighteen current, cutting-edge papers by leading researchers in the field. Included are an invited paper by F. Glover and G. Kochenberger, which discusses the concept of Metaheuristic agent processes, and a tutorial paper by M.G.C. Resende and C.C. Ribeiro discussing GRASP with path-relinking. Other papers discuss problem-solving approaches to timetabling, automated planograms, elevators, space allocation, shift design, cutting stock, flexible shop scheduling, colorectal cancer and cartography. A final group of methodology papers clarify various aspects of Metaheuristics from the computational view point.

Advanced Design Problems in Aerospace Engineering, Volume 1: Advanced Aerospace Systems presents six authoritative lectures on the use of mathematics in the conceptual design of various types of aircraft and spacecraft. It covers the following topics: design of rocket-powered orbital spacecraft (Miele/Mancuso), design of Moon missions (Miele/Mancuso), design of Mars missions (Miele/Wang), design of an experimental guidance system with a perspective flight path display (Sachs), neighboring vehicle design for a two-stage launch vehicle (Well), and controller design for a flexible aircraft (Hanel/Well). This is a reference book of interest to engineers and scientists working in aerospace engineering and related topics.

This volume contains, in part, a selection of papers presented at the sixth Australian Optimization Day Miniconference (Ballarat, 16 July 1999), and the Special Sessions on Nonlinear Dynamics and Optimization and Operations Re search - Methods and Applications, which were held in Melbourne, July 11-15 1999 as a part of the Joint Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and Australian Mathematical Society. The editors have strived to present both con tributed papers and survey style papers as a more interesting mix for readers. Some participants from the meetings mentioned above have responded to this approach by preparing survey and 'semi-survey' papers, based on presented lectures. Contributed paper, which contain new and interesting results, are also included. The fields of the presented papers are very large as demonstrated by the following selection of key words from selected papers in this volume: * optimal control, stochastic optimal control, MATLAB, economic models, implicit constraints, Bellman principle, Markov process, decision-making under uncertainty, risk aversion, dynamic programming, optimal value function. * emergent computation, complexity, traveling salesman problem, signal estimation, neural networks, time congestion, teletraffic. * gap functions, nonsmooth variational inequalities, derivative-free algo rithm, Newton's method. * auxiliary function, generalized penalty function, modified Lagrange func tion. * convexity, quasiconvexity, abstract convexity.

Though the volume covers 22 papers by 36 authors from 12 countries, the history in the background is bound to Hungary where, in 1973 Andras Pn kopa started to lay the foundation of a scientific forum, which can be a regular meeting spot for experts of the world in the field. Since then, there has been a constant interest in that forum. Headed at present by Tamas Rapcsak, the Laboratory of Operations Research and Decisions Systems of the Computer and Automation Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences followed the tradition in every respect, namely conferences were organized almost in every second year and in the same stimulating area, in the Matra mountains. The basic fields were kept, providing opportunities for the leading personalities to give voice to their latest results. The floor has been widened recently for the young generation, ensuring this way both a real location for the past, present and future experts to meet and also the possibility for them to make the multicoloured rainbow of the fields unbroken and continuous. The volume is devoted to the memory of Steven Vajda, one of the pioneers on mathematical programming, born is Hungary. In 1992 he took part in the XIth International Conference on Mathematical Programming at Matrafiired where, with his bright personality, he greatly contributed to the good spirituality of the event. We thank Jakob Krarup for his reminiscence on the life and scientific activities of late Steven Vajda."

As the telecommunication industry introduces new sophisticated technologies, the nature of services and the volume of demands have changed. Indeed, a broad range of new services for users appear, combining voice, data, graphics, video, etc. This implies new planning issues. Fiber transmission systems that can carry large amounts of data on a few strands of wire were introduced. These systems have such a large bandwidth that the failure of even a single transmission link: in the network can create a severe service loss to customers. Therefore, a very high level of service reliability is becoming imperative for both system users and service providers. Since equipment failures and accidents cannot be avoided entirely, networks have to be designed so as to "survive" failures. This is done by judiciously installing spare capacity over the network so that all traffic interrupted by a failure may be diverted around that failure by way of this spare or reserve capacity. This of course translates into huge investments for network operators. Designing such survivable networks while minimizing spare capacity costs is, not surprisingly, a major concern of operating companies which gives rise to very difficult combinatorial problems. In order to make telecommunication networks survivable, one can essentially use two different strategies: protection or restoration. The protection approach preas signs spare capacity to protect each element of the network independently, while the restoration approach spreads the redundant capacity over the whole network and uses it as required in order to restore the disrupted traffic."

The aim of this volume is to show how Fuzzy Sets and Systems can help to provide robust and adaptive heuristic optimization algorithms in a variety of situations. The book presents the state of the art and gives a broad overview on the real practical applications that Fuzzy Sets, based on heuristic algorithms, have.

This book collects selected presentations of the Meeting of the EURO Working Group on Transportation, which took place at the Department of Ma- ematics at Chalmers University of Technology, Goeteborg (or, Gothenburg), Sweden, September 9-11, 1998. [The EURO Working Group on Transpor- tion was founded at the end of the 7th EURO Summer Institute on Urban Traffic Management, which took place in Cetraro, Italy, June 21-July, 1991. There were around 30 founding members of the Working Group, a number which now has grown to around 150. Meetings since then include Paris (1993), Barcelona (1994), and Newcastle (1996). ] About 100 participants were present, enjoying healthy rain and a memorable conference dinner in the Feskekorka. The total number of presentations at the conference was about 60, coming from quite diverse areas within the field of operations research in transportation, and covering all modes of transport: Deterministic traffic equilibrium models (6 papers) Stochastic traffic equilibrium models (5 papers) Combined traffic models (3 papers) Dynamic traffic models (7 papers) Simulation models (4 papers) Origin-destination matrix estimation (2 papers) Urban public transport models (8 papers) Aircraft scheduling (1 paper) Ship routing (2 papers) Railway planning and scheduling (6 papers) Vehicle routing (3 papers) Traffic management (3 papers) Signal control models (3 papers) Transportation systems analysis (5 papers) ix x TRANSPORTATION PLANNING Among these papers, 14 were eventually selected to be included in this volume.

George Dantzig is widely regarded as the founder of this subject with his invention of the simplex algorithm in the 1940's. In this second volume, the theory of the items discussed in the first volume is expanded to include such additional advanced topics as variants of the simplex method; interior point methods, GUB, decomposition, integer programming, and game theory. Graduate students in the fields of operations research, industrial engineering and applied mathematics will thus find this volume of particular interest.

This volume presents state-of-the-art complementarity applications, algorithms, extensions and theory in the form of eighteen papers. These at the International Conference on Com invited papers were presented plementarity 99 (ICCP99) held in Madison, Wisconsin during June 9-12, 1999 with support from the National Science Foundation under Grant DMS-9970102. Complementarity is becoming more widely used in a variety of appli cation areas. In this volume, there are papers studying the impact of complementarity in such diverse fields as deregulation of electricity mar kets, engineering mechanics, optimal control and asset pricing. Further more, application of complementarity and optimization ideas to related problems in the burgeoning fields of machine learning and data mining are also covered in a series of three articles. In order to effectively process the complementarity problems that arise in such applications, various algorithmic, theoretical and computational extensions are covered in this volume. Nonsmooth analysis has an im portant role to play in this area as can be seen from articles using these tools to develop Newton and path following methods for constrained nonlinear systems and complementarity problems. Convergence issues are covered in the context of active set methods, global algorithms for pseudomonotone variational inequalities, successive convex relaxation and proximal point algorithms. Theoretical contributions to the connectedness of solution sets and constraint qualifications in the growing area of mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints are also presented. A relaxation approach is given for solving such problems. Finally, computational issues related to preprocessing mixed complementarity problems are addressed."

Many books on optimization consider only finite dimensional spaces. This volume is unique in its emphasis: the first three chapters develop optimization in spaces without linear structure, and the analog of convex analysis is constructed for this case. Many new results have been proved specially for this publication. In the following chapters optimization in infinite topological and normed vector spaces is considered. The novelty consists in using the drop property for weak well-posedness of linear problems in Banach spaces and in a unified approach (by means of the Dolecki approximation) to necessary conditions of optimality. The method of reduction of constraints for sufficient conditions of optimality is presented. The book contains an introduction to non-differentiable and vector optimization. Audience: This volume will be of interest to mathematicians, engineers, and economists working in mathematical optimization.

This book contains problems of stochastic optimization and identification. Results concerning uniform law of large numbers, convergence of approximate estimates of extreme points, as well as empirical estimates of functionals with probability 1 and in probability are presented.

Audience: Specialists in stochastic optimization and estimations, postgraduate students, and graduate students studying such topics

This book is devoted to one of the main questions of the theory of extremal prob lems, namely, to necessary and sufficient extremality conditions. It is intended mostly for mathematicians and also for all those who are interested in optimiza tion problems. The book may be useful for advanced students, post-graduated students, and researchers. The book consists of four chapters. In Chap. 1 we study the abstract minimization problem with constraints, which is often called the mathemati cal programming problem. Chapter 2 is devoted to one of the most important classes of extremal problems, the optimal control problem. In the third chapter we study one of the main objects of the calculus of variations, the integral quadratic form. In the concluding, fourth, chapter we study local properties of smooth nonlinear mappings in a neighborhood of an abnormal point. The problems which are studied in this book (of course, in addition to their extremal nature) are united by our main interest being in the study of the so called abnormal or degenerate problems. This is the main distinction of the present book from a large number of books devoted to theory of extremal problems, among which there are many excellent textbooks, and books such as, e.g., 13, 38, 59, 78, 82, 86, 101, 112, 119], to mention a few."

This extremely useful book is devoted to the study of scalar and asymptotic scalar derivatives and their applications to some problems in nonlinear analysis, Riemannian geometry and applied mathematics. The theoretical results are developed in particular with respect to the study of complementarity problems, monotonicity of nonlinear mappings and the non-gradient type monotonicity on Riemannian manifolds. The text is intended for researchers and graduate students working in the fields of nonlinear analysis, Riemannian geometry and applied mathematics.

On August 1997 a conference titled "From Local to Global Optimiza- tion" was held at Storgarden in Rimfor.sa near the Linkoping Institute of Technology, Sweden. The conference gave us the opportunity to cel- ebrate Hoang Thy's achievements in Optimization during his 70 years of life. This book consists of a collection of research papers based on results presented during the conference and are dedicated to Professor Hoang Thy on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The papers cover a wide range of recent results in Mathematical Pro- gramming. The work of Hoang Thy, in particular in Global Optimiza- tion, has provided directions for new algorithmic developments in the field. We are indebted to the Kluwer Academic Publishers for inviting us to publish this volume, and the Center for Industrial Information Transfer (CENIIT) for financial support. We wish to thank the referees for their help and the authors for their papers. We also wish to join all contributors of this book in expressing birthday wishes and gratitude to Hoang Thy for his inspiration, support, and friendship to all of us. Athanasios Migdalas, Panos M. Pardalos, and Peter Varbrand November 1998 xv Hoang Tuy: An Appreciation Its a pleasure for me as colleague and friend to take this opportunity to celebrate Hoang 'I\lY'S numerous contributions to the field of mathemat- ical programming.

This textbook examines a broad range of problems in science and engineering, describing key numerical methods applied to real life. The case studies presented are in such areas as data fitting, vehicle route planning and optimal control, scheduling and resource allocation, sensitivity calculations and worst-case analysis.

Chapters are self-contained with exercises provided at the end of most sections. Nonlinear Optimization with Engineering Applications is ideal for self-study and classroom use in engineering courses at the senior undergraduate or graduate level. The book will also appeal to postdocs and advanced researchers interested in the development and use of optimization algorithms.

Semi-infinite programming (briefly: SIP) is an exciting part of mathematical programming. SIP problems include finitely many variables and, in contrast to finite optimization problems, infinitely many inequality constraints. Prob lems of this type naturally arise in approximation theory, optimal control, and at numerous engineering applications where the model contains at least one inequality constraint for each value of a parameter and the parameter, repre senting time, space, frequency etc., varies in a given domain. The treatment of such problems requires particular theoretical and numerical techniques. The theory in SIP as well as the number of numerical SIP methods and appli cations have expanded very fast during the last years. Therefore, the main goal of this monograph is to provide a collection of tutorial and survey type articles which represent a substantial part of the contemporary body of knowledge in SIP. We are glad that leading researchers have contributed to this volume and that their articles are covering a wide range of important topics in this subject. It is our hope that both experienced students and scientists will be well advised to consult this volume. We got the idea for this volume when we were organizing the semi-infinite pro gramming workshop which was held in Cottbus, Germany, in September 1996."