This book contains 25 papers, most of which were presented, for the first time, at the International Workshop on Operator Theory and its Applications held in Groningen, the Netherlands, from June 30a "July 3, 1998. The topics include dilation and interpolation problems, reproducing kernel spaces, numerical ranges of operators, Riccati equations, harmonic analysis, spectral theory of differential operators and analytic operator functions to scattering of waves. All papers deal with operators in Banach or Hilbert spaces, or in spaces with an indefinite metric. This volume is dedicated to Israel Gohberg, one of the founding fathers of the IWOTA worskhops and an outstanding leader in operator theory. His work had a deep influence on the field and its range of applications. The IWOTA Groningen 1998, the tenth in its series, was a good occasion for a pre-celebration of his 70th birthday. This book also contains the speeches held at the workshop dinner, a review of Israel Gohberga (TM)s contributions to mathematics and a complete list of his publications. The book is of interest to a wide audience of pure and applied mathematicians.

This volume is the second of the three volume publication containing the proceedings of the 1989 International Symposium on the Mathemat ical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS-89), which was held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June 19-23, 1989 The International Symposia MTNS focus attention on problems from system and control theory, circuit theory and signal processing, which, in general, require application of sophisticated mathematical tools, such as from function and operator theory, linear algebra and matrix theory, differential and algebraic geometry. The interaction between advanced mathematical methods and practical engineering problems of circuits, systems and control, which is typical for MTNS, turns out to be most effective and is, as these proceedings show, a continuing source of exciting advances. The second volume contains invited papers and a large selection of other symposium presentations in the vast area of robust and nonlinear control. Modern developments in robust control and H-infinity theory, for finite as well as for infinite dimensional systems, are presented. A large part of the volume is devoted to nonlinear control. Special atten tion is paid to problems in robotics. Also the general theory of nonlinear and infinite dimensional systems is discussed. A couple of papers deal with problems of stochastic control and filterina. vi Preface The titles of the two other volumes are: Realization and Modelling in System Theory (volume 1) and Signal Processing, Scattering and Operator Theory, and Numerical Methods (volume 3)."

On November 12-14, 1997 a workshop was held at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam on the occasion of the sixtieth birthday ofM. A. Kaashoek. The present volume contains the proceedings of this workshop. The workshop was attended by 44 participants from all over the world: partici pants came from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine and the USA. The atmosphere at the workshop was very warm and friendly. There where 21 plenary lectures, and each lecture was followed by a lively discussion. The workshop was supported by: the Vakgroep Wiskunde of the Vrije Univer siteit, the department of Mathematics and Computer Science of the Vrije Univer siteit, the Stichting VU Computer Science & Mathematics Research Centre, the Thomas Stieltjes Institute for Mathematics, and the department of Economics of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The organizers would like to take this opportunity to express their gratitude for the support. Without it the workshop would not have been so successful as it was. Table of Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Photograph of M. A. Kaashoek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Curriculum Vitae of M. A. Kaashoek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv List of Publications of M. A. Kaashoek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix l. Gohberg Opening Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxi H. Bart, A. C. M. Ran and H. I. Woerdeman Personal Reminiscences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxv V. Adamyan and R. Mennicken On the Separation of Certain Spectral Components of Selfadjoint Operator Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. Conditions for the Separation of Spectral Components . . . . . . . 4 3. Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

On November 12-14, 1997 a workshop was held at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam on the occasion of the sixtieth birthday ofM. A. Kaashoek. The present volume contains the proceedings of this workshop. The workshop was attended by 44 participants from all over the world: partici pants came from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine and the USA. The atmosphere at the workshop was very warm and friendly. There where 21 plenary lectures, and each lecture was followed by a lively discussion. The workshop was supported by: the Vakgroep Wiskunde of the Vrije Univer siteit, the department of Mathematics and Computer Science of the Vrije Univer siteit, the Stichting VU Computer Science & Mathematics Research Centre, the Thomas Stieltjes Institute for Mathematics, and the department of Economics of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The organizers would like to take this opportunity to express their gratitude for the support. Without it the workshop would not have been so successful as it was. Table of Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Photograph of M. A. Kaashoek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Curriculum Vitae of M. A. Kaashoek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv List of Publications of M. A. Kaashoek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix l. Gohberg Opening Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxi H. Bart, A. C. M. Ran and H. I. Woerdeman Personal Reminiscences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxv V. Adamyan and R. Mennicken On the Separation of Certain Spectral Components of Selfadjoint Operator Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. Conditions for the Separation of Spectral Components . . . . . . . 4 3. Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

A collection of 25 papers dedicated to Israel Gohberg, an outstanding leader in operator theory. Also containing a review of his contributions to mathematics and a complete list of his publications. The book is of interest to a wide audience of pure and applied mathematicians.

This volume is the second of the three volume publication containing the proceedings of the 1989 International Symposium on the Mathemat ical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS-89), which was held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June 19-23, 1989 The International Symposia MTNS focus attention on problems from system and control theory, circuit theory and signal processing, which, in general, require application of sophisticated mathematical tools, such as from function and operator theory, linear algebra and matrix theory, differential and algebraic geometry. The interaction between advanced mathematical methods and practical engineering problems of circuits, systems and control, which is typical for MTNS, turns out to be most effective and is, as these proceedings show, a continuing source of exciting advances. The second volume contains invited papers and a large selection of other symposium presentations in the vast area of robust and nonlinear control. Modern developments in robust control and H-infinity theory, for finite as well as for infinite dimensional systems, are presented. A large part of the volume is devoted to nonlinear control. Special atten tion is paid to problems in robotics. Also the general theory of nonlinear and infinite dimensional systems is discussed. A couple of papers deal with problems of stochastic control and filterina. vi Preface The titles of the two other volumes are: Realization and Modelling in System Theory (volume 1) and Signal Processing, Scattering and Operator Theory, and Numerical Methods (volume 3)."