2 Radiant sets 236 3 Co-radiant sets 239 4 Radiative and co-radiative sets 241 5 Radiant sets with Lipschitz continuous Minkowski gauges 245 6 Star-shaped sets and their kernels 249 7 Separation 251 8 Abstract convex star-shaped sets 255 References 260 11 DIFFERENCES OF CONVEX COMPACTA AND METRIC SPACES OF CON- 263 VEX COMPACTA WITH APPLICATIONS: A SURVEY A.  Meer

Special tools are required for examining and solving optimization problems. The main tools in the study of local optimization are classical calculus and its modern generalizions which form nonsmooth analysis.  Meer

On August 1997 a conference titled "From Local to Global Optimiza­ tion" was held at Storgarden in Rimfor.sa near the Linkoping Institute of Technology, Sweden.  Meer

This book deals with decision making in environments of significant data un­ certainty, with particular emphasis on operations and production management applications.  Meer

Global optimization is one of the fastest developing fields in mathematical optimization. In fact, an increasing number of remarkably efficient deterministic algorithms have been proposed in the last ten years for solving several classes of large scale specially structured problems encountered in such areas as chemical engineering, financial engineering, location and network optimization, production and inventory control, engineering design, computational geometry, and multi-objective and multi-level optimization.  Meer

Industrial, financial, commercial or any kinds of project have at least one common feature: the better organized they are, the higher the profit or the lower the cost.  Meer

In the early fifties, applied mathematicians, engineers and economists started to pay c10se attention to the optimization problems in which another (lower-Ievel) optimization problem arises as a side constraint.  Meer

Polynomial extremal problems (PEP) constitute one of the most important subclasses of nonlinear programming models. Their distinctive feature is that an objective function and constraints can be expressed by polynomial functions in one or several variables.  Meer

Motivated by practical problems in engineering and physics, drawing on a wide range of applied mathematical disciplines, this book is the first to provide, within a unified framework, a self-contained comprehensive mathematical theory of duality for general non-convex, non-smooth systems, with emphasis on methods and applications in engineering mechanics.  Meer

Complementarity theory is a new domain in applied mathematics and is concerned with the study of complementarity problems. These problems represent a wide class of mathematical models related to optimization, game theory, economic engineering, mechanics, fluid mechanics, stochastic optimal control etc.  Meer

There has been much recent progress in approximation algorithms for nonconvex continuous and discrete problems from both a theoretical and a practical perspective.  Meer

In the fifties and sixties, several real problems, old and new, especially in Physics, Mechanics, Fluidodynamics, Structural Engi­ neering, have shown the need of new mathematical models for study­ ing the equilibrium of a system.  Meer

Techniques and principles of minimax theory play a key role in many areas of research, including game theory, optimization, and computational complexity.  Meer

As its title implies, Advances in Multicriteria Analysis presents the most recent developments in multicriteria analysis and in some of its principal areas of application, including marketing, research and development evaluation, financial planning, and medicine.  Meer

At the heart of the topology of global optimization lies Morse Theory: The study of the behaviour of lower level sets of functions as the level varies.  Meer

In this edition, the scope and character of the monograph did not change with respect to the first edition. Taking into account the rapid development of the field, we have, however, considerably enlarged its contents.  Meer

I am very happy to have this opportunity to present the work of Boris Mirkin, a distinguished Russian scholar in the areas of data analysis and decision making methodologies.  Meer

axiomatic results should be at the heart of such a science. Through them, we should be able to enlighten and scientifically assist decision-making processes especially by: - making that wh ich is objective stand out more c1early from that which is less objective; - separating robust from fragile conc1usions; - dissipating certain forms of misunderstanding in communication; - avoiding the pitfall of illusory reasoning; - emphasizing, once they are understood, incontrovertible results.  Meer

Bayesian decision theory is known to provide an effective framework for the practical solution of discrete and nonconvex optimization problems. This book is the first to demonstrate that this framework is also well suited for the exploitation of heuristic methods in the solution of such problems, especially those of large scale for which exact optimization approaches can be prohibitively costly.  Meer

Nonsmooth energy functions govern phenomena which occur frequently in nature and in all areas of life. They constitute a fascinating subject in mathematics and permit the rational understanding of yet unsolved or partially solved questions in mechanics, engineering and economics.  Meer