'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."

Recently, a great deal of progress has been made in the modeling and understanding of processes with nonlinear dynamics, even when only time series data are available. Modern reconstruction theory deals with creating nonlinear dynamical models from data and is at the heart of this improved understanding. Most of the work has been done by dynamicists, but for the subject to reach maturity, statisticians and signal processing engineers need to provide input both to the theory and to the practice. The book brings together different approaches to nonlinear time series analysis in order to begin a synthesis that will lead to better theory and practice in all the related areas. This book describes the state of the art in nonlinear dynamical reconstruction theory. The chapters are based upon a workshop held at the Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge University, UK, in late 1998. The book's chapters present theory and methods topics by leading researchers in applied and theoretical nonlinear dynamics, statistics, probability, and systems theory. Features and topics: * disentangling uncertainty and error: the predictability of nonlinear systems * achieving good nonlinear models * delay reconstructions: dynamics vs. statistics * introduction to Monte Carlo Methods for Bayesian Data Analysis * latest results in extracting dynamical behavior via Markov Models * data compression, dynamics and stationarity Professionals, researchers, and advanced graduates in nonlinear dynamics, probability, optimization, and systems theory will find the book a useful resource and guide to current developments in the subject.

'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 describes the state of the art in nonlinear dynamical reconstruction theory. The chapters are based upon a workshop held at the Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge University, UK, in late 1998. The book's chapters present theory and methods topics by leading researchers in applied and theoretical nonlinear dynamics, statistics, probability, and systems theory. Features and topics: * disentangling uncertainty and error: the predictability of nonlinear systems * achieving good nonlinear models * delay reconstructions: dynamics vs. statistics * introduction to Monte Carlo Methods for Bayesian Data Analysis * latest results in extracting dynamical behavior via Markov Models * data compression, dynamics and stationarity Professionals, researchers, and advanced graduates in nonlinear dynamics, probability, optimization, and systems theory will find the book a useful resource and guide to current developments in the subject.