In recent years, the need for a review of the state of the art in Combinatorial Optimization has been felt by many scientists and researchers in the field. The opportunity of achieving this aim was offered by the Deputy Secretary General of the International Centre of Mechanical Sciences, Professor A. Marzollo, who invited the contributors of this volume to Udine for a Workshop. During the meeting the participants discussed their results and their ideas on the future developments of the various facets of this expanding area of applied mathematics. The success of the Workshop and the...