In many decision problems, e.g. from the area of production and logistics manage ment, the evaluation of alternatives and the determination of an optimal or at least suboptimal solution is an important but dif?cult task. For most such problems no ef?cient algorithm is known and classical approaches of Operations Research like Mixed Integer Linear Programming or Dynamic Pro gramming are often of limited use due to excessive computation time. Therefore, dedicated heuristic solution approaches have been developed which aim at providing good solutions in reasonable time for a given problem. However, such methods have two major drawbacks: First, they are tailored to a speci?c prob lem and their adaption to other problems is dif?cult and in many cases even impos sible. Second, they are typically designed to "build" one single solution in the most effective way, whereas most decision problems have a vast number of feasible solu tions. Hence usually the chances are high that there exist better ones. To overcome these limitations, problem independent search strategies, in particular metaheuris tics, have been proposed. This book provides an elementary step by step introduction to metaheuristics focusing on the search concepts they are based on. The ?rst part demonstrates un derlying concepts of search strategies using a simple example optimization problem.

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.

Nonconvex Optimization is a multi-disciplinary research field that deals with the characterization and computation of local/global minima/maxima of nonlinear, nonconvex, nonsmooth, discrete and continuous functions. Nonconvex optimization problems are frequently encountered in modeling real world systems for a very broad range of applications including engineering, mathematical economics, management science, financial engineering, and social science. This contributed volume consists of selected contributions from the Advanced Training Programme on Nonconvex Optimization and Its Applications held at Banaras Hindu University in March 2009. It aims to bring together new concepts, theoretical developments, and applications from these researchers. Both theoretical and applied articles are contained in this volume which adds to the state of the art research in this field. Topics in Nonconvex Optimization is suitable for advanced graduate students and researchers in this area.

This comprehensive work examines important recent developments and modern applications in the fields of optimization, control, game theory and equilibrium programming. In particular, the concepts of equilibrium and optimality are of immense practical importance affecting decision-making problems regarding policy and strategies, and in understanding and predicting systems in different application domains, ranging from economics and engineering to military applications. The book consists of 29 survey chapters written by distinguished researchers in the above areas.

This textbook gives a comprehensive introduction to stochastic processes and calculus in the fields of finance and economics, more specifically mathematical finance and time series econometrics. Over the past decades stochastic calculus and processes have gained great importance, because they play a decisive role in the modeling of financial markets and as a basis for modern time series econometrics. Mathematical theory is applied to solve stochastic differential equations and to derive limiting results for statistical inference on nonstationary processes. This introduction is elementary and rigorous at the same time. On the one hand it gives a basic and illustrative presentation of the relevant topics without using many technical derivations. On the other hand many of the procedures are presented at a technically advanced level: for a thorough understanding, they are to be proven. In order to meet both requirements jointly, the present book is equipped with a lot of challenging problems at the end of each chapter as well as with the corresponding detailed solutions. Thus the virtual text - augmented with more than 60 basic examples and 40 illustrative figures - is rather easy to read while a part of the technical arguments is transferred to the exercise problems and their solutions.

In recent decades, it has become possible to turn the design process into computer algorithms. By applying different computer oriented methods the topology and shape of structures can be optimized and thus designs systematically improved. These possibilities have stimulated an interest in the mathematical foundations of structural optimization. The challenge of this book is to bridge a gap between a rigorous mathematical approach to variational problems and the practical use of algorithms of structural optimization in engineering applications. The foundations of structural optimization are presented in a sufficiently simple form to make them available for practical use and to allow their critical appraisal for improving and adapting these results to specific models. Special attention is to pay to the description of optimal structures of composites; to deal with this problem, novel mathematical methods of nonconvex calculus of variation are developed. The exposition is accompanied by examples.

At the heart of the topology of global optimization lies Morse Theory: The study of the behaviour of lower level sets of functions as the level varies. Roughly speaking, the topology of lower level sets only may change when passing a level which corresponds to a stationary point (or Karush-Kuhn Tucker point). We study elements of Morse Theory, both in the unconstrained and constrained case. Special attention is paid to the degree of differentiabil ity of the functions under consideration. The reader will become motivated to discuss the possible shapes and forms of functions that may possibly arise within a given problem framework. In a separate chapter we show how certain ideas may be carried over to nonsmooth items, such as problems of Chebyshev approximation type. We made this choice in order to show that a good under standing of regular smooth problems may lead to a straightforward treatment of "just" continuous problems by means of suitable perturbation techniques, taking a priori nonsmoothness into account. Moreover, we make a focal point analysis in order to emphasize the difference between inner product norms and, for example, the maximum norm. Then, specific tools from algebraic topol ogy, in particular homology theory, are treated in some detail. However, this development is carried out only as far as it is needed to understand the relation between critical points of a function on a manifold with structured boundary. Then, we pay attention to three important subjects in nonlinear optimization."

Whether costs are to be reduced, profits to be maximized, or scarce resources to be used wisely, optimization methods are available to guide decision making. In online optimization the main issue is incomplete data, and the scientific challenge: How well can an online algorithm perform? Can one guarantee solution quality, even without knowing all data in advance? In real-time optimization there is an additional requirement, decisions have to be computed very fast in relation to the time frame of the instance we consider. Online and real-time optimization problems occur in all branches of optimization. These areas have developed their own techniques but they are addressing the same issues: quality, stability, and robustness of the solutions. To fertilize this emerging topic of optimization theory and to foster cooperation between the different branches of optimization, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has supported a Priority Programme "Online Optimization of Large Systems".

Decision makers in managerial and public organizations often encounter de cision problems under conflict or competition, because they select strategies independently or by mutual agreement and therefore their payoffs are then affected by the strategies of the other decision makers. Their interests do not always coincide and are at times even completely opposed. Competition or partial cooperation among decision makers should be considered as an essen tial part of the problem when we deal with the decision making problems in organizations which consist of decision makers with conflicting interests. Game theory has been dealing with such problems and its techniques have been used as powerful analytical tools in the resolution process of the decision problems. The publication of the great work by J. von Neumann and O. Morgen stern in 1944 attracted attention of many people and laid the foundation of game theory. We can see remarkable advances in the field of game theory for analysis of economic situations and a number of books in the field have been published in recent years. The aim of game theory is to specify the behavior of each player so as to optimize the interests of the player. It then recommends a set of solutions as strategies so that the actions chosen by each decision maker (player) lead to an outcome most profitable for himself or her self."

Two prisoners are told that they will be brought to a room and seated so that each can see the other. Hats will be placed on their heads; each hat is either red or green. The two prisoners must simultaneously submit a guess of their own hat color, and they both go free if at least one of them guesses correctly. While no communication is allowed once the hats have been placed, they will, however, be allowed to have a strategy session before being brought to the room. Is there a strategy ensuring their release? The answer turns out to be yes, and this is the simplest non-trivial example of a hat problem.

This book deals with the question of how successfully one can predict the value of an arbitrary function at one or more points of its domain based on some knowledge of its values at other points. Topics range from hat problems that are accessible to everyone willing to think hard, to some advanced topics in set theory and infinitary combinatorics. For example, there is a method of predicting the value "f"("a") of a function f mapping the reals to the reals, based only on knowledge of "f"'s values on the open interval ("a" 1, "a"), and for every such function the prediction is incorrect only on a countable set that is nowhere dense.

The monograph progresses from topics requiring fewer prerequisites to those requiring more, with most of the text being accessible to any graduate student in mathematics. The broad range of readership includes researchers, postdocs, and graduate students in the fields of set theory, mathematical logic, and combinatorics. The hope is that this book will bring together mathematicians from different areas to think about set theory via a very broad array of coordinated inference problems. "

This book highlights recent developments in multidimensional data visualization, presenting both new methods and modifications on classic techniques. Throughout the book, various applications of multidimensional data visualization are presented including its uses in social sciences (economy, education, politics, psychology), environmetrics, and medicine (ophthalmology, sport medicine, pharmacology, sleep medicine).

The book provides recent research results in optimization-based visualization. Evolutionary algorithms and a two-level optimization method, based on combinatorial optimization and quadratic programming, are analyzed in detail. The performance of these algorithms and the development of parallel versions is discussed.

The encorporation of new visualization techniques to improve the capabilies of artificial neural networks (self-organizing maps, feed-forward networks) is also discussed.

The book includes over 100 detailed images presenting examples of the different visualization techniques that are presented.

This book is intended for scientists and researchers in any field of study where complex and multidimensional data must be represented visually.

This book presents a study to determine the current limitations in the area of Photovoltaics (PV) as a source of renewable energy and proposes strategies to overcome them by applying optimization approaches in three main areas, namely related to photovoltaic solar cells, modules, and systems. These include grid metallization design of Si-based solar cells and modules; cost-effectiveness analysis between Si-based monofacial and bifacial grid-connected PV systems; optimal diesel replacement strategy for the progressive introduction of PV and batteries; dispatch strategy optimization for PV hybrid systems in real time. The novelty of the work presented in this book is of high interest to the scientific community but also to the PV manufacturers, installation companies, and investors.

The book provides a broad introduction to both the theory and the application of optimization with a special emphasis on the elegance, importance, and usefulness of the parametric self-dual simplex method. The book assumes that a problem in "standard form," is a problem with inequality constraints and nonnegative variables. The main new innovation to the book is the use of clickable links to the (newly updated) online app to help students do the trivial but tedious arithmetic when solving optimization problems. The latest edition now includes: a discussion of modern Machine Learning applications, as motivational material; a section explaining Gomory Cuts and an application of integer programming to solve Sudoku problems. Readers will discover a host of practical business applications as well as non-business applications. Topics are clearly developed with many numerical examples worked out in detail. Specific examples and concrete algorithms precede more abstract topics. With its focus on solving practical problems, the book features free C programs to implement the major algorithms covered, including the two-phase simplex method, the primal-dual simplex method, the path-following interior-point method, and and the homogeneous self-dual method. In addition, the author provides online tools that illustrate various pivot rules and variants of the simplex method, both for linear programming and for network flows. These C programs and online pivot tools can be found on the book's website. The website also includes new online instructional tools and exercises.

Optimization on Riemannian manifolds-the result of smooth geometry and optimization merging into one elegant modern framework-spans many areas of science and engineering, including machine learning, computer vision, signal processing, dynamical systems and scientific computing. This text introduces the differential geometry and Riemannian geometry concepts that will help applied mathematics, computer science and engineering students and researchers gain a firm mathematical grounding to use these tools confidently in their research. Its chart-last approach will prove more intuitive from an optimizer's viewpoint, and all definitions and theorems are motivated to build time-tested optimization algorithms. Starting from first principles, the text goes on to cover current research on topics including worst-case complexity and geodesic convexity. Readers will appreciate the tricks of the trade for conducting research and for numerical implementations sprinkled throughout the book.

This book collects the latest theoretical and technological concepts in the design and control of various linear machines and drive systems. Discussing advances in the new linear machine topologies, integrated modeling, multi-objective optimization techniques, and high-performance control strategies, it focuses on emerging applications of linear machines in transportation and energy systems. The book presents both theoretical and practical/experimental results, providing a consistent compilation of fundamental theories, a compendium of current research and development activities as well as new directions to overcome critical limitations.

This volume presents selected contributions by top researchers in the field of operations research, originating from the XVI Congress of APDIO. It provides interesting findings and applications of operations research methods and techniques in a wide variety of problems. The contributions address complex real-world problems, including inventory management with lateral transshipments, sectors and routes in solid-waste collection and production planning for perishable food products. It also discusses the latest techniques, making the volume a valuable tool for researchers, students and practitioners who wish to learn about current trends. Of particular interest are the applications of nonlinear and mixed-integer programming, data envelopment analysis, clustering techniques, hybrid heuristics, supply chain management and lot sizing, as well as job scheduling problems. This biennial conference, organized by APDIO, the Portuguese Association of Operational Research, held in Braganca, Portugal, in June 2013, presented a perfect opportunity to discuss the latest development in this field and to narrow the gap between academic researchers and practitioners.

This book presents modern developments in time series econometrics that are applied to macroeconomic and financial time series, bridging the gap between methods and realistic applications. It presents the most important approaches to the analysis of time series, which may be stationary or nonstationary. Modelling and forecasting univariate time series is the starting point. For multiple stationary time series, Granger causality tests and vector autogressive models are presented. As the modelling of nonstationary uni- or multivariate time series is most important for real applied work, unit root and cointegration analysis as well as vector error correction models are a central topic. Tools for analysing nonstationary data are then transferred to the panel framework. Modelling the (multivariate) volatility of financial time series with autogressive conditional heteroskedastic models is also treated.

This book presents select peer-reviewed papers presented at the International Conference on Numerical Optimization in Engineering and Sciences (NOIEAS) 2019. The book covers a wide variety of numerical optimization techniques across all major engineering disciplines like mechanical, manufacturing, civil, electrical, chemical, computer, and electronics engineering. The major focus is on innovative ideas, current methods and latest results involving advanced optimization techniques. The contents provide a good balance between numerical models and analytical results obtained for different engineering problems and challenges. This book will be useful for students, researchers, and professionals interested in engineering optimization techniques.

With a focus on the interplay between mathematics and applications of imaging, the first part covers topics from optimization, inverse problems and shape spaces to computer vision and computational anatomy. The second part is geared towards geometric control and related topics, including Riemannian geometry, celestial mechanics and quantum control. Contents: Part I Second-order decomposition model for image processing: numerical experimentation Optimizing spatial and tonal data for PDE-based inpainting Image registration using phase amplitude separation Rotation invariance in exemplar-based image inpainting Convective regularization for optical flow A variational method for quantitative photoacoustic tomography with piecewise constant coefficients On optical flow models for variational motion estimation Bilevel approaches for learning of variational imaging models Part II Non-degenerate forms of the generalized Euler Lagrange condition for state-constrained optimal control problems The Purcell three-link swimmer: some geometric and numerical aspects related to periodic optimal controls Controllability of Keplerian motion with low-thrust control systems Higher variational equation techniques for the integrability of homogeneous potentials Introduction to KAM theory with a view to celestial mechanics Invariants of contact sub-pseudo-Riemannian structures and Einstein Weyl geometry Time-optimal control for a perturbed Brockett integrator Twist maps and Arnold diffusion for diffeomorphisms A Hamiltonian approach to sufficiency in optimal control with minimal regularity conditions: Part I Index

Gathering the proceedings of the 12th CHAOS2019 International Conference, this book highlights recent developments in nonlinear, dynamical and complex systems. The conference was intended to provide an essential forum for Scientists and Engineers to exchange ideas, methods, and techniques in the field of Nonlinear Dynamics, Chaos, Fractals and their applications in General Science and the Engineering Sciences. The respective chapters address key methods, empirical data and computer techniques, as well as major theoretical advances in the applied nonlinear field. Beyond showcasing the state of the art, the book will help academic and industrial researchers alike apply chaotic theory in their studies.

This handbook gathers state-of-the-art research on optimization problems in power distribution systems, covering classical problems as well as the challenges introduced by distributed power generation and smart grid resources. It also presents recent models, solution techniques and computational tools to solve planning problems for power distribution systems and explains how to apply them in distributed and variable energy generation resources. As such, the book therefore is a valuable tool to leverage the expansion and operation planning of electricity distribution networks.

It was in the middle of the 1980s, when the seminal paper by Kar markar opened a new epoch in nonlinear optimization. The importance of this paper, containing a new polynomial-time algorithm for linear op timization problems, was not only in its complexity bound. At that time, the most surprising feature of this algorithm was that the theoretical pre diction of its high efficiency was supported by excellent computational results. This unusual fact dramatically changed the style and direc tions of the research in nonlinear optimization. Thereafter it became more and more common that the new methods were provided with a complexity analysis, which was considered a better justification of their efficiency than computational experiments. In a new rapidly develop ing field, which got the name "polynomial-time interior-point methods", such a justification was obligatory. Afteralmost fifteen years of intensive research, the main results of this development started to appear in monographs [12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19]. Approximately at that time the author was asked to prepare a new course on nonlinear optimization for graduate students. The idea was to create a course which would reflect the new developments in the field. Actually, this was a major challenge. At the time only the theory of interior-point methods for linear optimization was polished enough to be explained to students. The general theory of self-concordant functions had appeared in print only once in the form of research monograph [12].

V-INVEX FUNCTIONS AND VECTOR OPTIMIZATION summarizes and synthesizes an aspect of research work that has been done in the area of Generalized Convexity over the past several decades. Specifically, the book focuses on V-invex functions in vector optimization that have grown out of the work of Jeyakumar and Mond in the 1990?s. V-invex functions are areas in which there has been much interest because it allows researchers and practitioners to address and provide better solutions to problems that are nonlinear, multi-objective, fractional, and continuous in nature. Hence, V-invex functions have permitted work on a whole new class of vector optimization applications. There has been considerable work on vector optimization by some highly distinguished researchers including Kuhn, Tucker, Geoffrion, Mangasarian, Von Neuman, Schaiible, Ziemba, etc. The authors have integrated this related research into their book and demonstrate the wide context from which the area has grown and continues to grow. The result is a well-synthesized, accessible, and usable treatment for students, researchers, and practitioners in the areas of OR, optimization, applied mathematics, engineering, and their work relating to a wide range of problems which include financial institutions, logistics, transportation, traffic management, etc.

As optimization researchers tackle larger and larger problems, scale interactions play an increasingly important role. One general strategy for dealing with a large or difficult problem is to partition it into smaller ones, which are hopefully much easier to solve, and then work backwards towards the solution of original problem, using a solution from a previous level as a starting guess at the next level. This volume contains 22 chapters highlighting some recent research. The topics of the chapters selected for this volume are focused on the development of new solution methodologies, including general multilevel solution techniques, for tackling difficult, large-scale optimization problems that arise in science and industry. Applications presented in the book include but are not limited to the circuit placement problem in VLSI design, a wireless sensor location problem, optimal dosages in the treatment of cancer by radiation therapy, and facility location.

This collection of papers is an outgrowth of the "Game Practice I" th th conference held in Genoa from 28 to 30 June 1998. More precisely, it is the result of the call for papers that was issued in association with that conference: actually, nearly half of the contributions to this book are papers that were presented in Genoa. The name chosen for the conference and for this book is in evident and provocative contrast with "Game Theory" this choice needs some explanation, and to that we shall devote a few words of this Preface. Let us say at the outset that "Game Practice" would not exist without Game Theory. As one can see, the overall content of this book is firmly rooted in the existing Game Theory. It could be hardly otherwise, given the success and influence of Game Theory (just think of the basic issues in Economic Theory), and the tremendous development that has taken place within Game Theory. This success, however, makes even more evident the existence of problems with respect to the verification of the theory. This is patent from the point of view of the predictive value of Game Theory (the "positive" side): a lot of experimental and observational evidence demon strates that there is a large gap between theory and "practice.""