Computer-based mathematical modeling - the technique of representing and managing models in machine-readable form - is still in its infancy despite the many powerful mathematical software packages already available which can solve astonishingly complex and large models. On the one hand, using mathematical and logical notation, we can formulate models which cannot be solved by any computer in reasonable time - or which cannot even be solved by any method. On the other hand, we can solve certain classes of much larger models than we can practically handle and manipulate without heavy...

Decisions in uncertainty Scientific reaction to change During latter decades, the basic elements that have traditionally made up the society in wh ich economic activity develops, have been submitted to the effect of multiple aggressions as a consequence of the outcome of events motivated by the nature itself of the human being, always seeking a level of happiness that is never reached. In a very brief manner we are accustomed to mention these by using words such as revolution, profound changes, convulsions . . . ., the results of which are manifest through non-linear reactions that lead to a...

For a long time the techniques of solving linear optimization (LP) problems improved only marginally. Fifteen years ago, however, a revolutionary discovery changed everything. A new golden age' for optimization started, which is continuing up to the current time. What is the cause of the excitement? Techniques of linear programming formed previously an isolated body of knowledge. Then suddenly a tunnel was built linking it with a rich and promising land, part of which was already cultivated, part of which was completely unexplored. These revolutionary new techniques are now applied to solve...

This volume contains the edited texts of the lectures presented at the Workshop on Nonlinear Optimization held in Erice, Sicily, at the "G. Stampacchia" School of Mathematics of the "E. Majorana" Centre for Scientific Culture, June 23 -July 2, 1998. In the tradition of these meetings, the main purpose was to review and discuss recent advances and promising research trends concerning theory, algorithms and innovative applications in the field of Nonlinear Optimization, and of related topics such as Convex Optimization, Nonsmooth Optimization, Variational Inequalities and Complementarity...

Industrial Mathematics is a relatively recent discipline. It is concerned primarily with transforming technical, organizational and economic problems posed by indus try into mathematical problems; "solving" these problems byapproximative methods of analytical and/or numerical nature; and finally reinterpreting the results in terms of the original problems. In short, industrial mathematics is modelling and scientific computing of industrial problems. Industrial mathematicians are bridge-builders: they build bridges from the field of mathematics to the practical world; to do that they need to...

Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) has been one of the fastest growing problem areas in many disciplines. The central problem is how to evaluate a set of alternatives in terms of a number of criteria. Although this problem is very relevant in practice, there are few methods available and their quality is hard to determine. Thus, the question Which is the best method for a given problem?' has become one of the most important and challenging ones.
This is exactly what this book has as its focus and why it is important. The author extensively compares, both theoretically and...

This chapter describes a study conducted at the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, in their School of Business. The study was to explore the applicability of a judgment-analytic decision support system to the assessment of the likelihood of an applicant being selected for admission to the School's Graduate Certificate in Business Administration (GCBA) program. The likelihood of a program administrator selecting a particular applicant is directly linked to the assessment of the likelihood of that applicant's success in the GCBA program. The purpose of this study, in effect, was...

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...

This book contains selected papers from the presentations given at the 7th EURO-Working Group Meeting on 'Iransportation, which took place at the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT), Finland, during August 2-4, 1999. Altogether 31 presentations were given and 14 full papers have been selected in this publication through a peer review process coordinated by the editors. The papers in this book cover a wide range of transportation problems from the simulation of railway traffic to optimum congestion tolling and mode choice modeling with stated preference data. In general, the variety of...

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,...