This volume is devoted to the role of probabilistic methods in modern applied mathematics from the perspectives of both a tool for analysis and as a tool in modeling. It will be useful to researchers and graduate students interested in dynamical systems approaches, and probabilistic methods.

This volume contains survey and research articles by some of the leading researchers in mathematical systems theory - a vibrant research area in its own right. Many authors have taken special care that their articles are self-contained and accessible also to non-specialists.

This IMA Volume in Mathematics and its Applications GEOMETRIC METHODS IN INVERSE PROBLEMS AND PDE CONTROL contains a selection of articles presented at 2001 IMA Summer Program with the same title. We would like to thank Christopher B. Croke (University of Penn sylva nia), Irena Lasiecka (University of Virginia), Gunther Uhlmann (University of Washington), and Michael S. Vogelius (Rutgers University) for their ex cellent work as organizers of the two-week summer workshop and for editing the volume. We also take this opportunity to thank the National Science Founda tion for their support of the...

This book grew out of the discussions and presentations that began during the Workshop on Emerging and Reemerging Diseases (May 17-21, 1999) sponsored by the Institute for Mathematics and its Application (IMA) at the University of Minnesota with the support of NIH and NSF. The workshop started with a two-day tutorial session directed to ecologists, epidemiologists, immunologists, mathematicians, and scientists interested in the study of disease dynamics. The core of this first volume, Volume 125, covers tutorial and research contributions on the use of dynamical systems (deterministic...

The use of the internet for commerce has spawned a variety of auctions, marketplaces, and exchanges for trading everything from bandwidth to books. Mechanisms for bidding agents, dynamic pricing, and combinatorial bids are being implemented in support of internet-based auctions, giving rise to new versions of optimization and resource allocation models. This volume, a collection of papers from an IMA "Hot Topics" workshop in internet auctions, includes descriptions of real and proposed auctions, complete with mathematical model formulations, theoretical results, solution approaches, and...

In the ideal world, major decisions would be made based on complete and reliable information available to the decision maker. We live in a world of uncertainties, and decisions must be made from information which may be incomplete and may contain uncertainty. The key mathematical question addressed in this volume is "how to make decision in the presence of quantifiable uncertainty." The volume contains articles on model problems of decision making process in the energy and power industry when the available information is noisy and/or incomplete. The major tools used in studying these problems...

The papers in this volume arose out of the workshop Membrane Transport and Renal Physiology, which was conducted as part of the IMA 1998-1999 program year, Mathematics in Biology. The workshop brought together physiologists, biophysicists, and applied mathematicians who share a common interest in solute and water transport in biological systems, especially in the integrated function of the kidney. Solute and water transport through cells involves fluxes across two cell membranes, usually via specialized proteins that are integral membrane components. By means of mathematical representations,...

This volume contains refereed papers submitted by international experts who participated in the Atmospheric Modeling workshop March 15 -19, 2000 at the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications (IMA) at the University of Minnesota. The papers cover a wide range of topics presented in the workshop. In particular, mathematical topics include a performance comparison of operator-splitting and non- splitting methods, time-stepping methods to preserve positivity and consideration of multiple timescale issues in the modeling of atmospheric chemistry, a fully 3D adaptive-grid method, impact of...

This IMA Volume in Mathematics and its Applications FRACTALS IN MULTIMEDIA is a result of a very successful three-day minisymposium on the same title. The event was an integral part of the IMA annual program on Mathemat ics in Multimedia, 2000-2001. We would like to thank Michael F. Barnsley (Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne), Di etmar Saupe (Institut fUr Informatik, UniversiUit Leipzig), and Edward R. Vrscay (Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo) for their excellent work as organizers of the meeting and for editing the proceedings. We...

This volume contains refereed papers from a workshop on Statistics in Genetics held as part of the six-week symposium on Statistics in the Health Sciences held by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications in the summer of 1997. The week on genetics provided a forum for lively discussion among an unusual mix of statistical scientists and population geneticists. The field of statistical genetics is growing and expanding. Though the Genome Project will eventually result in the sequencing of the human genome, as well as the genomes of several other organisms, there will still be a need...