This volume contains a selection of papers referring to lectures presented at the symposium "Operations Research 2004" (OR 2004) held at Tilburg University, September 1-3, 2004. This international conference took place under the auspices of the German Operations Research Society (GOR) and the Dutch Operations Research Society (NGB).

The symposium had about 500 participants from countries all over the world. It attracted academics and practitioners working in various fields of Operations Research and provided them with the most recent advances in Operations Research and related areas in Economics, Mathematics, and Computer Science.

The program consisted of 4 plenary and 19 semi-plenary talks and more than 300 contributed presentations selected by the program committee to be presented in 20 sections.

A large number of real-life optimisation problems can only be realistically modelled with several~often conflicting~objectives. This fact requires us to abandon the concept of "optimal solution" in favour of vector optimization notions dealing with "efficient solution" and "efficient set". To solve these challenging multiobjective problems, the metaheuristics community has put forward a number of techniques commonly referred to as multiobjective meta- heuristics (MOMH). By its very nature, the field of MOMH covers a large research area both in terms of the types of problems solved and the techniques used to solve these problems. Its theoretical interest and practical applicability have attracted a large number of researchers and generated numerous papers, books and spe- cial issues. Moreover, several conferences and workshops have been organised, often specialising in specific sub-areas such as multiobjective evolutionary op- timisation. The main purpose of this volume is to provide an overview of the current state-of-the-art in the research field of MOMH. This overview is necessar- ily non-exhaustive, and contains both methodological and problem-oriented contributions, and applications of both population-based and neighbourhood- based heuristics. This volume originated from the workshop on multiobjective metaheuristics that was organised at the Carre des Sciences in Paris on November 4-5, 2002. This meeting was a joint effort of two working groups: ED jME and PM20.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the First International Workshop on Global Constraints Optimization and Costraint Satisfaction, COCOS 2002, held in Valbonne-Sophia Antipolis, France in October 2002.

The 15 revised full papers presented together with 2 invited papers were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing and improvement. The papers address current issues in global optimization, mathematical programming, and constraint programming; they are grouped in topical sections on optimization, constraint satisfaction, and benchmarking.

Geometric control theory is concerned with the evolution of systems subject to physical laws but having some degree of freedom through which motion is to be controlled. This book describes the mathematical theory inspired by the irreversible nature of time evolving events. The first part of the book deals with the issue of being able to steer the system from any point of departure to any desired destination. The second part deals with optimal control, the question of finding the best possible course. An overlap with mathematical physics is demonstrated by the Maximum principle, a fundamental principle of optimality arising from geometric control, which is applied to time-evolving systems governed by physics as well as to man-made systems governed by controls. Applications are drawn from geometry, mechanics, and control of dynamical systems. The geometric language in which the results are expressed allows clear visual interpretations and makes the book accessible to physicists and engineers as well as to mathematicians.

This book provides a solid foundation and an extensive study for Mathematical Programs with Equilibrium Constraints (MPEC). It begins with the description of many source problems arising from engineering and economics that are amenable to treatment by the MPEC methodology. Error bounds and parametric analysis are the main tools to establish a theory of exact penalization, a set of MPEC constraint qualifications and the first-order and second-order optimality conditions. The book also describes several iterative algorithms such as a penalty based interior point algorithm, an implicit programming algorithm and a piecewise sequential quadratic programming algorithm for MPECs. Results in the book are expected to have significant impacts in such disciplines as engineering design, economics and game equilibria, and transportation planning, within all of which MPEC has a central role to play in the modeling of many practical problems.

A First Course in Optimization Theory introduces students to optimization theory and its use in economics and allied disciplines. The first of its three parts examines the existence of solutions to optimization problems in R(superscript n), and how these solutions may be identified. The second part explores how solutions to optimization problems change with changes in the underlying parameters, and the last part provides an extensive description of the fundamental principles of finite- and infinite-horizon dynamic programming. Each chapter contains a number of detailed examples explaining both the theory and its applications for first-year master's and graduate students. "Cookbook" procedures are accompanied by a discussion of when such methods are guaranteed to be successful, and equally importantly, when they could fail. Each result in the main body of the text is also accompanied by a complete proof. A preliminary chapter and three appendices are designed to keep the book mathematically self-contained.

This book constitutes the joint refereed proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Approximation Algorithms for Optimization Problems, APPROX 2003 and of the 7th International Workshop on Randomization and Approximation Techniques in Computer Science, RANDOM 2003, held in Princeton, NY, USA in August 2003.

The 33 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 74 submissions. Among the issues addressed are design and analysis of randomized and approximation algorithms, online algorithms, complexity theory, combinatorial structures, error-correcting codes, pseudorandomness, derandomization, network algorithms, random walks, Markov chains, probabilistic proof systems, computational learning, randomness in cryptography, and various applications.

This tutorial contains written versions of seven lectures on Computational Combinatorial Optimization given by leading members of the optimization community. The lectures introduce modern combinatorial optimization techniques, with an emphasis on branch and cut algorithms and Lagrangian relaxation approaches. Polyhedral combinatorics as the mathematical backbone of successful algorithms are covered from many perspectives, in particular, polyhedral projection and lifting techniques and the importance of modeling are extensively discussed. Applications to prominent combinatorial optimization problems, e.g., in production and transport planning, are treated in many places; in particular, the book contains a state-of-the-art account of the most successful techniques for solving the traveling salesman problem to optimality.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Approximation Algorithms for Combinatorial Optimization Problems, APPROX 2002, held in Rome, Italy in September 2002.The 20 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 54 submissions. Among the topics addressed are design and analysis of approximation algorithms, inapproximability results, online problems, randomization techniques, average-case analysis, approximation classes, scheduling problems, routing and flow problems, coloring and partitioning, cuts and connectivity, packing and covering, geometric problems, network design, and applications to game theory and other fields.

A famous saying (due toHerriot)definescultureas "what remainswhen everythingisforgotten ." One couldparaphrase thisdefinitionin statingthat generalizedconvexity iswhat remainswhen convexity has been dropped . Of course, oneexpectsthatsome convexityfeaturesremain.For functions, convexity ofepigraphs(what is above thegraph) is a simplebut strong assumption.It leads tobeautifulpropertiesand to a field initselfcalled convex analysis. In several models, convexity is not presentandintroducing genuine convexityassumptionswouldnotberealistic. A simple extensionof thenotionof convexity consists in requiringthatthe sublevel sets ofthe functionsare convex (recall thata sublevel set offunction a is theportionof thesourcespaceon which thefunctiontakesvalues below a certainlevel).Its first use is usuallyattributed to deFinetti, in 1949. This propertydefinesthe class ofquasiconvexfunctions, which is much larger thanthe class of convex functions: a non decreasingor nonincreasingone variablefunctionis quasiconvex, as well asanyone-variable functionwhich is nonincreasingon someinterval(-00, a] or(-00, a) and nondecreasingon its complement.Many otherclasses ofgeneralizedconvexfunctionshave been introduced, often fortheneeds ofvariousapplications: algorithms, economics, engineering, management science, multicriteria optimization, optimalcontrol, statistics .Thus, theyplay animportantrole in severalappliedsciences . A monotonemappingF from aHilbertspace to itself is a mappingfor which the angle between F(x) - F(y) and x- y isacutefor anyx, y. It is well-known thatthegradientof a differentiable convexfunctionis monotone.The class of monotonemappings(and theclass ofmultivaluedmonotoneoperators) has remarkableproperties.This class has beengeneralizedin various direc tions, withapplicationsto partialdifferentialequations, variationalinequal ities, complementarity problemsand more generally, equilibriumproblems. The classes ofgeneralizedmonotonemappingsare more or lessrelatedto the classes ofgeneralizedfunctionsvia differentiation or subdifferentiation procedures.They are also link edvia severalothermeans."

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Multi-Criterion Optimization, EMO 2001, held in Zurich, Switzerland in March 2001.The 45 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 87 submissions. Also included are two tutorial surveys and two invited papers. The book is organized in topical sections on algorithm improvements, performance assessment and comparison, constraint handling and problem decomposition, uncertainty and noise, hybrid and alternative methods, scheduling, and applications of multi-objective optimization in a variety of fields.

This volume provides an up-to-date overview of major advances, emerging trends, and projected industrial applications in the field of multidisciplinary optimization. It concentrates on the current status of the field, exposes commonalities, innovative, promising, and speculative methods. This book provides a view of today's multidisciplinary optimization environment through a balenced theoretical and practical treatment. The contributors are the foremost authorities in each area of specialisation.

The book deals with linear time-invariant delay-differential equations with commensurated point delays in a control-theoretic context. The aim is to show that with a suitable algebraic setting a behavioral theory for dynamical systems described by such equations can be developed. The central object is an operator algebra which turns out to be an elementary divisor domain and thus provides the main tool for investigating the corresponding matrix equations. The book also reports the results obtained so far for delay-differential systems with noncommensurate delays. Moreover, whenever possible it points out similarities and differences to the behavioral theory of multidimensional systems, which is based on a great deal of algebraic structure itself. The presentation is introductory and self-contained. It should also be accessible to readers with no background in delay-differential equations or behavioral systems theory. The text should interest researchers and graduate students.

This book gathers papers presented at the 13th International Conference on Mesh Methods for Boundary-Value Problems and Applications, which was held in Kazan, Russia, in October 2020. The papers address the following topics: the theory of mesh methods for boundary-value problems in mathematical physics; non-linear mathematical models in mechanics and physics; algorithms for solving variational inequalities; computing science; and educational systems. Given its scope, the book is chiefly intended for students in the fields of mathematical modeling science and engineering. However, it will also benefit scientists and graduate students interested in these fields.

This volume contains a collection of papers based on lectures and presentations delivered at the International Conference on Constructive Nonsmooth Analysis (CNSA) held in St. Petersburg (Russia) from June 18-23, 2012. This conference was organized to mark the 50th anniversary of the birth of nonsmooth analysis and nondifferentiable optimization and was dedicated to J.-J. Moreau and the late B.N. Pshenichnyi, A.M. Rubinov, and N.Z. Shor, whose contributions to NSA and NDO remain invaluable. The first four chapters of the book are devoted to the theory of nonsmooth analysis. Chapters 5-8 contain new results in nonsmooth mechanics and calculus of variations. Chapters 9-13 are related to nondifferentiable optimization, and the volume concludes with four chapters containing interesting and important historical chapters, including tributes to three giants of nonsmooth analysis, convexity, and optimization: Alexandr Alexandrov, Leonid Kantorovich, and Alex Rubinov. The last chapter provides an overview and important snapshots of the 50-year history of convex analysis and optimization.

In this edition, the scope and character of the monograph did not change with respect to the first edition. Taking into account the rapid development of the field, we have, however, considerably enlarged its contents. Chapter 4 includes two additional sections 4.4 and 4.6 on theory and algorithms of D.C. Programming. Chapter 7, on Decomposition Algorithms in Nonconvex Optimization, is completely new. Besides this, we added several exercises and corrected errors and misprints in the first edition. We are grateful for valuable suggestions and comments that we received from several colleagues. R. Horst, P.M. Pardalos and N.V. Thoai March 2000 Preface to the First Edition Many recent advances in science, economics and engineering rely on nu merical techniques for computing globally optimal solutions to corresponding optimization problems. Global optimization problems are extraordinarily di verse and they include economic modeling, fixed charges, finance, networks and transportation, databases and chip design, image processing, nuclear and mechanical design, chemical engineering design and control, molecular biology, and environment al engineering. Due to the existence of multiple local optima that differ from the global solution all these problems cannot be solved by classical nonlinear programming techniques. During the past three decades, however, many new theoretical, algorith mic, and computational contributions have helped to solve globally multi extreme problems arising from important practical applications."

Optimal Shape Design is concerned with the optimization of some performance criterion dependent (besides the constraints of the problem) on the "shape" of some region. The main topics covered are: the optimal design of a geometrical object, for instance a wing, moving in a fluid; the optimal shape of a region (a harbor), given suitable constraints on the size of the entrance to the harbor, subject to incoming waves; the optimal design of some electrical device subject to constraints on the performance. The aim is to show that Optimal Shape Design, besides its interesting industrial applications, possesses nontrivial mathematical aspects. The main theoretical tools developed here are the homogenization method and domain variations in PDE. The style is mathematically rigorous, but specifically oriented towards applications, and it is intended for both pure and applied mathematicians. The reader is required to know classical PDE theory and basic functional analysis.

The main aim of this book is to present several results related to functions of unitary operators on complex Hilbert spaces obtained, by the author in a sequence of recent research papers. The fundamental tools to obtain these results are provided by some new Riemann-Stieltjes integral inequalities of continuous integrands on the complex unit circle and integrators of bounded variation. Features All the results presented are completely proved and the original references where they have been firstly obtained are mentioned Intended for use by both researchers in various fields of Linear Operator Theory and Mathematical Inequalities, as well as by postgraduate students and scientists applying inequalities in their specific areas Provides new emphasis to mathematical inequalities, approximation theory and numerical analysis in a simple, friendly and well-digested manner. About the Author Silvestru Sever Dragomir is Professor and Chair of Mathematical Inequalities at the College of Engineering & Science, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of many research papers and several books on Mathematical Inequalities and their Applications. He also chairs the international Research Group in Mathematical Inequalities and Applications (RGMIA). For details, see https://rgmia.org/index.php.

Two-sided matching provides a model of search processes such as those between firms and workers in labor markets or between buyers and sellers in auctions. This book gives a comprehensive account of recent results concerning the game-theoretic analysis of two-sided matching. The focus of the book is on the stability of outcomes, on the incentives that different rules of organization give to agents, and on the constraints that these incentives impose on the ways such markets can be organized. The results for this wide range of related models and matching situations help clarify which conclusions depend on particular modeling assumptions and market conditions, and which are robust over a wide range of conditions.

The Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Edinburgh, includes talks from the 30 plenary speakers who between them covered the gamut of applied mathematics in topics such as superconductivity (S.J. Chapman, Oxford); elastic media (A. Friedman, Minnesota); mathematical modelling of the Internet (F. Kelly, Cambridge); Monte Carlo methods for financial applications (S. Tezuka, IBM Tokyo); liquid turbulence, partial differential equations, discrete optimisation, and computational aspects of all these topics. Speakers J.A. Sethia (Berkeley), J.K. Lenstra (CWI, Amsterdam), R.V. Kohn (Courant Institute, New York), S. Muller (Leipzig, Germany), C. Johnson (Goteborg, Sweden). Also included are summaries of the mini symposia, and details of the prizes. This important summary of topical and applicable mathematics from the world's leaders in the subject is a 'must-have' reference volume for graduate students and researchers interested in applied and computational mathematics.

Integer Optimization addresses a wide spectrum of practically important optimization problems and represents a major challenge for algorithmics. The goal of integer optimization is to solve a system of constraints and optimization criteria over discrete variables.
Integer Optimization by Local Search introduces a new approach to domain-independent integer optimization, which, unlike traditional strategies, is based on local search. It develops the central concepts and strategies of integer local search and describes possible combinations with classical methods from linear programming. The surprising effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated in a variety of case studies on large-scale, realistic problems, including production planning, timetabling, radar surveillance, and sports scheduling. The monograph is written for practitioners and researchers from artificial intelligence and operations research.

The purpose of this book is to develop a framework for analyzing strategic rationality, a notion central to contemporary game theory, which is the formal study of the interaction of rational agents, and which has proved extremely fruitful in economics, political theory, and business management. The author argues that a logical paradox (known since antiquity as "the Liar paradox") lies at the root of a number of persistent puzzles in game theory, in particular those concerning rational agents who seek to establish some kind of reputation. Building on the work of Parsons, Burge, Gaifman, and Barwise and Etchemendy, Robert Koons constructs a context-sensitive solution to the whole family of Liar-like paradoxes, including, for the first time, a detailed account of how the interpretation of paradoxial statements is fixed by context. This analysis provides a new understanding of how the rational agent model can account for the emergence of rules, practices, and institutions.

Recent years have witnessed important developments in those areas of the mathematical sciences where the basic model under study is a dynamical system such as a differential equation or control process. Many of these recent advances were made possible by parallel developments in nonlinear and nonsmooth analysis. The latter subjects, in general terms, encompass differential analysis and optimization theory in the absence of traditional linearity, convexity or smoothness assumptions. In the last three decades it has become increasingly recognized that nonlinear and nonsmooth behavior is naturally present and prevalent in dynamical models, and is therefore significant theoretically. This point of view has guided us in the organizational aspects of this ASI. Our goals were twofold: We intended to achieve "cross fertilization" between mathematicians who were working in a diverse range of problem areas, but who all shared an interest in nonlinear and nonsmooth analysis. More importantly, it was our goal to expose a young international audience (mainly graduate students and recent Ph. D. 's) to these important subjects. In that regard, there were heavy pedagogical demands placed upon the twelve speakers of the ASI, in meeting the needs of such a gathering. The talks, while exposing current areas of research activity, were required to be as introductory and comprehensive as possible. It is our belief that these goals were achieved, and that these proceedings bear this out. Each of the twelve speakers presented a mini-course of four or five hours duration.

Thesubjectofthisbookisthenested partitions method(NP),arelativelynew optimization method that has been found to be very e?ective solving discrete optimization problems. Such discrete problems are common in many practical applications and the NP method is thus useful in diverse application areas. It can be applied to both operational and planning problems and has been demonstrated to e?ectively solve complex problems in both manufacturing and service industries. To illustrate its broad applicability and e?ectiveness, in this book we will show how the NP method has been successful in solving complex problems in planning and scheduling, logistics and transportation, supply chain design, data mining, and health care. All of these diverse app- cationshaveonecharacteristicincommon:theyallleadtocomplexlarge-scale discreteoptimizationproblemsthatareintractableusingtraditionaloptimi- tion methods. 1.1 Large-Scale Optimization IndevelopingtheNPmethodwewillconsideroptimization problemsthatcan be stated mathematically in the following generic form: minf(x), (1.1) x?X where the solution space or feasible region X is either a discrete or bounded ? set of feasible solutions. We denote a solution to this problem x and the ? ? objective function value f = f (x ).

This volume is addressed to people who are interested in modern mathematical solutions for real life applications. In particular, mathematical modeling, simulation and optimization is nowadays successfully used in various fields of application, like the energy- or health-sector. Here, mathematics is often the driving force for new innovations and most relevant for the success of many interdisciplinary projects. The presented chapters demonstrate the power of this emerging research field and show how society can benefit from applied mathematics.