Acta Numerica is an annual volume presenting survey papers in numerical analysis. Each year the editorial board selects significant topics and invites papers from authors who have made notable contributions to the development of that topic. The articles are intended to summarize the field at a level accessible to graduate students and researchers. Acta Numerica has proved to be a valuable tool not only for researchers and professionals wishing to develop their understanding of the subject and follow developments, but also as an advanced teaching aid at colleges and universities. Articles in previous volumes have been expanded into both monographs and textbooks, and many of the original articles themselves have been used as the prime resource for graduate courses.
Practical Optimization: Algorithms and Engineering Applications is a hands-on treatment of the subject of optimization. A comprehensive set of problems and exercises makes the book suitable for use in one or two semesters of a first-year graduate course or an advanced undergraduate course. Each half of the book contains a full semester’s worth of complementary yet stand-alone material. The practical orientation of the topics chosen and a wealth of useful examples also make the book suitable for practitioners in the field.
This book contains 23 papers presented at the ECCOMAS Multidisciplinary Jubilee Symposium - New Computational Challenges in Materials, Structures, and Fluids (EMJS08), in Vienna, February 18–20, 2008. The main intention of EMJS08 was to react adequately to the increasing need for interdisciplinary research activities allowing ef?cient solution of complex problems in engineering and in the applied sciences. The 15th anniversary of ECCOMAS (European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences) provided a suitable frame for taking the afo- mentioned situation into account by inviting distinguished colleagues from d- ferent areas of engineering and the applied sciences, encouraging them to choose multidisciplinary topics for their lectures. The main themes of EMJS08 have a long tradition in engineering and in the applied sciences: materials, structures, and ?uids. The solution of scienti?c pr- lems involving ?uids together with solids and structures, not to forget the materials the structures are made of, is of paramount importance in a technical world of rapidly increasing sophistication, referred to as the Leonardo World by the eminent German philosopher Ju ̈rgen Mittelstraß. More recently, the main themes of EMJS08 have gained considerable mom- tum, owing to signi?cant progress in nanotechnology. It enables resolution of a multitude of materials into their micro- and nanostructures. Covering aspects such as • Physical and chemical characterization • Multiscale modeling concepts, continuum micromechanics, and computational homogenization, as well as • Applications in various engineering ?elds the individual contributions to this book ?ow along different tracks of ?uids, materials, and structures.
