Operations Research 93

This proceedings volume contains extended abstracts of talks presented at the 18th Symposium on Operations Research held at the University of Cologne, September 1-3, 1993. The Symposia on Operations Research are the annual meetings of the Gesellschaft fiir Mathematik, Okonometrie und Operations Research (GMOOR), a scientific society providing a link between research and applications in the areas of applied mathematics, economics and operations research. The broad range of interests and scientific activities covered by GMOOR and its members was demonstrated by about 250 talks presented at the 18th Symposium. As in l'ecent years, emphasis was placed on optimization and stochastics, this year with a special focus on combinatorial optimization and discrete mathematics. We appreciate that with sections on parallel and distributed computing and on scientific computing also new fields could be integrated into the scope of the GMOOR. This book contains extended abstracts of most of the papers presented at the con ference. Long versions and full papers of the talks are expected to appear elsewhere in refereed periodicals. The contributions were divided into sixteen sections: (1) Theory of Optimization, (2) Computational Methods of Optimization, (3) Combinatorial Optimization and Dis crete Mathematics, (4) Scientific Computing, (5) Decision Theory, (6) Mathematical Economics and Game Theory, (7) Banking, Finance and Insurance, (8) Econometrics, (9) Macroeconomics and Economic Theory, (10) Stochastics, (11) Production and Lo gistics, (12) System and Control Theory, (13) Routing and Scheduling, (14) Knowledge Based Systems, (15) Information Systems and (16) Parallel and Distributed Compu ting.

An insight into the latest results from the world of operations research - a wide-ranging field, as is shown by the book's 24 sections, corresponding to the conference program itself. Although problems of a primarily methodological nature are discussed, the emphasis is placed firmly on practical subjects, such as reports from the fields of healthcare, environmental protection, logistics and traffic engineering. This selection also clearly illustrates the extent to which OR is spreading into and already interwoven in other scientific disciplines.

This book deals with different modern topics in probability, statistics and operations research. It has been written lucidly in a novel way. Wherever necessary, the theory is explained in great detail, with suitable illustrations. Numerous references are given, so that young researchers who want to start their work in a particular area will benefit immensely from the book.The contributors are distinguished statisticians and operations research experts from all over the world.

This two-volume set of texts explores the central facts and ideas of stochastic processes, illustrating their use in models based on applied and theoretical investigations. They demonstrate the interdependence of three areas of study that usually receive separate treatments: stochastic processes, operating characteristics of stochastic systems, and stochastic optimization. Comprehensive in its scope, they emphasize the practical importance, intellectual stimulation, and mathematical elegance of stochastic models and are intended primarily as graduate-level texts.