Moments, positive polynomials and their applications

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Peter Brucker

Besides scheduling problems for single and parallel machines and shop scheduling problems the book covers advanced models involving due-dates, sequence dependent changeover times and batching. Also multiprocessor task scheduling and problems with multipurpose machines are discussed. The methods used to solve these problems are linear programming, dynamic programming, branch-and-bound algorithms, and local search heuristics. Complexity results for the different classes of deterministic scheduling problems are summarized. In the third edition of the book the complexity status of the different classes of scheduling problems is updated and corresponding references are added. New polynomial algorithms for single machine problems with release times and constant processing times are added.

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David L. Woodruff

Computer Science and Operations Research continue to have a synergistic relationship and this book - as a part of the Operations Research and Computer Science Interface Series - sits squarely in the center of the confluence of these two technical research communities. The research presented in the volume is evidence of the expanding frontiers of these two intersecting disciplines and provides researchers and practitioners with new work in the areas of logic programming, stochastic optimization, heuristic search and post-solution analysis for integer programs. The chapter topics span the spectrum of application level. Some of the chapters are highly applied and others represent work in which the application potential is only beginning. In addition, each chapter contains expository material and reviews of the literature designed to enhance the participation of the reader in this expanding interface.

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J. Michael Steele

This book is designed for students who want to develop professional skills in stochastic calculus and its application to problems in finance. The Wharton School course on which the book is based is designed for energetic students who have had some experience with probability and statistics, but who have not had advanced courses in stochastic processes. Even though the course assumes only a modest background, it moves quickly and - in the end - students can expect to have the tools that are deep enough and rich enough to be relied upon throughout their professional careers. The course begins with simple random walk and the analysis of gambling games. This material is used to motivate the theory of martingales, and, after reaching a decent level of confidence with discrete processes, the course takes up the more demanding development of continuous time stochastic process, especially Brownian motion. The construction of Brownian motion is given in detail, and enough material on the subtle properties of Brownian paths is developed so that the student should sense of when intuition can be trusted and when it cannot. The course then takes up the Itô integral and aims to provide a development that is honest and complete without being pedantic. With the Itô integral in hand, the course focuses more on models. Stochastic processes of importance in Finance and Economics are developed in concert with the tools of stochastic calculus that are needed in order to solve problems of practical importance. The financial notion of replication is developed, and the Black-Scholes PDE is derived by three different methods. The course then introduces enough of the theory of the diffusion equation to be able to solve the Black-Scholes PDE and prove the uniqueness of the solution.

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Rembert Reemtsen, Jan-J. Rückmann

This volume provides an outstanding collection of tutorial and survey articles on semi-infinite programming by leading researchers. While the literature on semi-infinite programming has grown enormously, an up-to-date book on this exciting area of optimization has been sorely lacking. The volume is divided into three parts. The first part, Theory, includes an analysis of sensitivity and stability properties and a discussion of parameter-dependent problems. A comprehensive survey of existing methods and a discussion of connections with semi-definite programming are topics in the second part, Numerical Methods. Investigations of special problems from signal processing, reliability testing, and control theory make up the final part, Applications. Audience: This book is an indispensable reference and source for advanced students and researchers in applied mathematics and engineering.