Variational methods are very powerful techniques in nonlinear analysis and are extensively used in many disciplines of pure and applied mathematics (including ordinary and partial differential equations, mathematical physics, gauge theory, and geometrical analysis).In our first chapter, we gather the basic notions and fundamental theorems that will be applied throughout the chapters. While many of these items are easily available in the literature, we gather them here both for the convenience of the reader and for the purpose of making this volume somewhat self-contained. Subsequent chapters...