Activities of EUROPT EURO Working Group on Continuous Optimization

Activities of EUROPT EURO Working Group on Continuous Optimization in 2004 and 2005 Introduction EUROPT, Continuous Optimization Working Group of EURO (EUROPT WG), has been founded at IPM2000 Workshop in Budapest, Hungary, July 2000 That workshop was a satellite event of the EURO-XVII Conference At these days, there we about 50 founding members In the sequel of our first workshop, EUROPT had three further workshops: workshop Smooth and Nonsmooth Optimization, Theory and Applications, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, July 2001, before EURO XVIII, then Workshop on Advances in Continuous Optimization, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 2003, before the th EUROPT/INFORMS Joint International Meeting 2003, and Workshop on Challenges of Continuous Optimization in Theory and Applications, July 2004, before EURO XX A bit later, still in July 2004, we celebrated EURO Summer Institute Optimization and Data Mining in Ankara As it will be described in the following, that previous workshop and ESI 2004 were the main scientific events of our previous EUROPT year 2004 At the moment, in early April 2005, our group EUROPT has 240 members Please find many interesting data, information and invitations at our EUROPT homepage http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/EUROPT/ We note that with a number of other scientific groups we have exchanged and mutually published our links Activities in 2004 In 2004, there were two highlight events which EUROPT organized: (a) EUROPT “Workshop on Challenges of Continuous Optimization in Theory and Applications”, (b) EURO Summer Institute “Optimization and Data Mining”, we gave contributions to (c) EURO XX Conference and finalized a (d) Feature Cluster in European Journal of Operational Research 2.a EUROPT Workshop in 2004 As it became a very good tradition, also in 2004 the workshop of EUROPT, July 2-3, took place before and in the same city as EURO XX Conference (July 4-7): in that year, in Rhodes City, Greece This Workshop on Challenges of Continuous Optimization in Theory and Applications (please see http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/contopt04/index.html) was the fourth annual meeting of our working group- and again it was wonderful: from the viewpoint of both high scientific quality and experienced community In the present year 2004, not only Olympic Games are ‘‘ are coming home“ (in terms of the refrain of a pop song) into the country of their origin Also optimization, especially, Continuous Optimization, has come back to a country of its roots, of its old masters, to Greece A nicer and worthier framework can hardly be imagined than the one represented by the beauty and the historical richness of Rhodes EUROPT workshop and EURO together: this has a tradition but tradition also characterizes the support by all partners of EUROPT in the workshop project: EURO (Association of European Operational Research Societies), GOR (Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V; German OR Society), IAM (Institute of Applied Mathematics) of METU (Middle East Technical University), Ankara, Turkey, and University of the Aegean, Greece Furthermore, two more groups and organizations were well-represented at our meeting with its 33 workshop participants Namely, by the various contributions of our friends Prof Dr Alexander Rubinov (University of Ballarat, Australia) from POP (Pacific Optimization Research Activity Group) and Prof Dr Moshe Sniedovich (University of Melbourne, Australia) from IFORS (International Federation of Operational Research Societies), our workshop got a special international character, the one of a bridge between Europe, Pacific region and other continents With these friends and institutions, EUROPT will continue to work together closely and on different levels We remark that at the workshop besides of the Pacific also the Aegean (Greek-Turkish), the Ibero - Latin American (Portugese - SpanishBrasilian - Mexican), the Baltic (Lithuanian), the Hungarian and the German groups were strong in number, and there were numerous and warm contacts over all frontiers The workshop took place in the pleasant and hospitable atmosphere of Best Western Plaza Hotel in the center of Rhodes City So, in those days, we were quite close to the ‘‘pulse“ of Greek people with their excitement and Mediterranean celebration of European football nations cup which ended so successfully for the Hellenians A sincere congratulation by EUROPT! Organization Committee consisted of • • • • • • • N Ampazis (University of the Aegean, Greece), E Avgerinos (University of the Aegean, Greece), M Dür (TU Darmstadt, Germany), A Hayfavi (METU, Ankara, Turkey), K Klamroth (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany), D Konstandinidis (University of the Aegean, Greece), G.-W Weber (METU, Ankara, Turkey) Homepage and data administration of both workshop and of ESI 2004 likewise, were in the good hands of A Dogan, A.G Sagdicoglu, A Tezel and C Vakifahmetoglu, respectively The members of Scientific Committee of our workshop were • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • J.-L Goffin (McGill University, Montreal, Canada), T Illes (Eötös University, Budapest, Hungary), F Jarre (University of Düsseldorf, Germany), B Karasözen (METU, Ankara, Turkey), J Kolumban (Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania), M Pınar (Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey), B Polyak (Institute of Control Science, Moscow, Russia), K Roos (Deft University of Technology, The Netherlands), A Rubinov (School of Information Technology and Mathematical Sciences, Ballarat, Australia), K Scheinberg (Columbia University, IBM, New York, USA), O Stein (RWTH Aachen, Germany), M Teboulle (Tel-Aviv University, Israel), T Terlaky (McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada), M Todorov (Universidad de las Americas, Puebla, Mexico), T Trafalis (University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA), M Türkay (Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey) At the evening before the workshop, there was a first informal meeting, a seeing again and learning each other in the entrance hall of the hotel From there we went to maritime specialities right from the sea into a restaurant at the harbour of Rhodes City In the morning of July 2, the workshop was opened by Prof Dr Bülent Karasözen (METU, Ankara, Turkey) The invited speakers of our workshop and their lectures were (in chronological order): • Prof Dr Moshe Sniedovich (University of Melbourne, Australia): ‘‘Recreational Optimization: Opportunities and Challenges“, • Prof Dr Marco A López (University of Alicante, Spain): ‘‘Metric Regularity of Semi-Infinite Constraint Systems“, • Prof Dr Kathrin Klamroth (Universität Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany): ‘‘Adaptive Approximation in Convex and Nonvonvex Multicriteria Programming“, • Prof Dr Arkadi Nemirovski (Technion, Haifa, Israel): ‘‘Tractable Approximations of Semi-Infinite Convex Problems and Applications“, • Prof Dr Miguel Goberna (University of Alicante, Spain): ‘‘Linear Semi-Infinite Prgramming: Trends and Challenges“, • Prof Dr Theodore Trafalis (University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA): ‘‘Optimization and Learning with Kernel Methods“ One reason for main topics arising in the content of the workshop program, namely, semiinfinite optimization, global optimization, optimal control and data mining, was lying in the fruitful interplay between EUROPT workshop and EURO, in the organization of EURO sessions by some of the many active members of EUROPT We note a further contribution of our group(s) to EURO conference given by the semi-plenary lecture held by Prof Dr Alexander Rubinov Highlights: these were our invited lectures, but also each of the other talks was a highlight and, using our picture from sports, from Olympic Games and European football nations cup: ‘‘The star is: the team!‘‘ This wonderful atmosphere became on the one hand acknowledged at the workshop dinner which took place in a jewel of Rhodean art of cooking and hospitality, an ‘‘insider´s secret“: in the beautiful garden restaurant Alexis-4-Seasons, where Prof Dr Azize Hayfavi (from Rhodes, today at METU and Atılım University, Ankara, Turkey) guided us after she gave a sightseeing tour through the Old Town of Rhodes City On the other hand, a number of friendships became deepened, other ones founded and future projects decided about In which fields? Now, about these fields discussions were made twofold at the workshop Firstly, in a concrete way and, secondly, in a general EUROPT concerning way at the occasion of EURO initiative ‘‘Branding OR“ (see http://www.euro-online.org/ display.php?page=branding_or), where all friends of EURO and OR are sincerely invited to Based on common reflections during our workshop, with essential impulses given by Prof Dr Tamas Terlaky (McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada) and up to some additions by our EUROPT members, our EUROPT answer on the question of Branding OR about challenges applications of Continuous Optimization is as follows (please cf http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/EUROPT/Branding-OR-EUROPT-.pdf): ii (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) optimal VLSI- and circuits-design, optimal integrated structure- und shape-design, optimization of biosystems, optimization of service and transportation systems optimization and control of industrial processes and With all these common impressions and outlooks Prof Dr Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber (METU, Ankara) concluded the workshop at evening of July But our events went and still go on! With EURO XX, July 4-7, on Rhodes, with EURO Summer Institute XXII Optimization and Data Mining, July 9-25, in Ankara, in next year, with EURO Mini Conference Continuous Optimization in the Industry, July 29 – July 1, in Pécs, Hungary (cf Section 3.a), and, again one year later with our fifth EUROPT Workshop and following EURO XXI in Reykjavik, Island, and another special EURO event organized by GOR (German OR Society) and EUROPT! Finally, an EJOR special issue Challenges of Continuous Optimization in Theory and Applications has been announced during the workshop The four guest editors are Mirjam Dür (TU Darmstadt, Germany), Bülent Karasözen and Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber (both from METU, Ankara, Turkey) and EUROPT’s deputy at EJOR, Tamas Terlaky (Mc Master University, Hamilton, Canada) This special issue should be published at the end of 2005 Please find closer information about our call for papers and about EJOR’s instructions for authors in http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/EUROPT/Rhodes%20workshop-EJOR%20special%20issue.doc and in http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/EUROPT/European%20Journal%20of%20Operational %20Research.htm, respectively This important EUROPT event on the beautiful and unique island of Rhodes, pearl of nature and history in blue sea, will additionally be supported IAM of METU, Ankara, Turkey, by German OR Society (GOR) and by University of the Aegean, Greece 2.b EURO Summer Institute in 2004 This is the final report of XXII EURO Summer Institute which took place at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey, from July 9-25, 2004, on the subject “Optimization and Data Mining” ESI XXII has been sponsored by o Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO), o Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBITAK) and supported by o Institute of Applied Mathematics (IAM) , METU o Operational Research Society of Turkey (ORST) The idea of ESI XXII was born and developed during EURO/INFORMS Joint International Meeting (Istanbul, July 6-10, 2003) and, together with that conference, ESI XXII has become a key events in the course of European collaboration in the field of Operations Research (OR), supported and surrounded by Turkish hospitality, rich old culture and enthusiasm of its young scientific generation Herewith, we tried to justify the great confidence and sympathy which have been given to us by EURO, by the OR societies The scientific atmosphere and challenge which could be felt and celebrated by our ESI XXII community during the 2-3 weeks in Ankara, based on the combination of its two parts, of two scientific research fields and traditions within of OR and EURO: • • data mining, being widely accepted and appreciated today as a key application field in management sciences, natural sciences and engineering, optimization, being a modern key technology prepared and offered by mathematics and related sciences The computer revolution has paved the way to a search for techniques capable of dealing with the huge amount of data information around us in all branches of sciences, bringing new theoretical and computational challenges to exciting research areas ranging from web page clustering, to computer vision, financial mathematics and bioinformatics, etc., to mention just a few The perceptron algorithm, support vector machines, margin classifiers, k-means clustering, EM-algorithm, are just few examples of the terminologies we often encounter in classification, clustering and machine learning problems Optimization algorithms and techniques are often at the heart of such methodologies, and a variety of other properties leading to interpretation and computation of solutions relies on optimization techniques as well The scientific aim of this summer institute consisted of seeking solutions to challenging data mining problems within the use and development of advanced / modern mathematical optimization and statistics tools The special structures often encountered in data mining systems also provide motivation for further investigations on new optimization methods and algorithms capable of handling very large scale data, and hence this summer meeting advanced both areas As Prof Dr Jakob Krarup (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) is his lecture during the ESI opening pointed out, our ESI XXII in Ankara, on the Anatolian part of Turkey, has the first EURO Summer Institute outside of Europe which implies a bridge function The news about ESI XXII spread into all over Turkey; many scientists in the field were attracted and made a short visit of ESI 2004 Herewith, our summer institute in Turkey gave a strong impulse of science and friendship to Europe and the world Furthermore, ESI XXII is embedded into a line of scientific events organized by EURO Working Group on Continuous Optimization (EUROPT) and EURO in these years 2003-2005, taking place in the South East and East of Europe, inviting and supporting the colleagues and youth there, and always having the European and OR perspective of well understanding, participation and collaboration in mind Organising Committee consisted of • • • • • • • • Bülent Karasözen, METU (Ankara, Turkey), Chairman of ESI 2004 Mirjam Dür, TU Darmstadt (Darmstadt, Germany), Tibor Illes, Eötvös Lorand University of Sciences (Budapest, Hungary), Sinan Kayalığil, METU (Ankara, Turkey), Stefan W Pickl, University of Cologne (Cologne, Germany), Mustafa Pınar, Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkey), Leonidas Sakalauskas, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics (Vilnius, Lithuania), Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber, METU (Ankara, Turkey), Co-Chairman of ESI 2004, Scientific Programme Committee consisted of • • • • • • • • • Aydın Aytuna, METU (Ankara, Turkey), Miguel Goberna, University of Alicante (Alicante, Spain), Refik Güllü, METU (Ankara, Turkey), Florian Jarre, University of Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf, Germany), Tamas Terlaky, McMaster University (Hamilton, Canada), Hayri Körezlioğlu, METU (Ankara, Turkey), Katya Scheinberg, IBM (New York, USA), Marc Teboulle, Tel-Aviv University (Tel Aviv, Israel), Chairman, Theodore Trafalis, University of Oklahoma (Norman, USA) The project idea of our ESI 2004 arose during EURO/IFORS Joint International Meeting (Istanbul, July 6-10, 2003) In those days, having just finished EUROPT Workshop on Advances in Continuous Optimization (Istanbul, July 4-5, 2003) with its likewise exciting atmosphere and dynamics guaranteed, last but not least, by the enthusiasm of young Turkish participants, some active members of EUROPT and also EURO Working Group on Complex Societal Problems, especially, Dr Dorien DeTombe, became in favour, active in supporting our ESI application Despite the fact, that the deadline for ESI submission had passed already, doors opened and we were still allowed to prepare and to submit our application The authors are very grateful to Prof Dr Zilla Sinuany-Stern and to the other members of EURO Executive Council In the following weeks, we prepared our application for ESI XXII in 2004 with a lot of energy and care It became a common project of EUROPT, ORST (Operational Research Society of Turkey) and IAM (Institute of Applied Mathematics) of METU Our application was accepted during the meeting of EURO Executive Meeting in 2003 We proceeded with our preparations and announcements of ESI XXII in Ankara, Turkey In autumn 2003, we send an invitation and, later on, in April 2004, a reminding invitation to our ESI 2004 via EURO, where ESI 2004 became announced by e-mails to national OR societies, to IFORS and related continental OR societies, and by registration of ESI 2004 in the Calendar of the Association of European Operational Research Societies (http://www.euroonline.org) Furthermore, advertising and information about our ESI was since the end of since April 2004 done by the EURO (Online) Bulletin under http://www.euroonline.org/onlineBulletin.php Finally, we gave detailed information and made further announcements about ESI 2004 by ESI homepage http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/esi04/index.html, by EUROPT working group homepage under http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/EUROPT/ and by the EUROPT link at http://www.euroonline.org/display.php?page=working_groups& on the homepage of EURO By all these treatments, by many special e-mails and a number of mailing lists used, many interested people got aware and attracted by our initiative of ESI XXII in Turkey project By the end of April 2004, 26 applications by young people reached us via national OR societies, via IFORS, ALIO, and also via professors from the countries Russia and Ukraine, which are not in EURO, or, by exception, via direct e-mails sent to us if the deadline of application via the national OR society had passed or no local contact person was known Among these submitted applications, there has been one student sent to us via ALIO, namely, Kelly Cristina Poldi (Brasil) and two students sent to us via IFORS, namely, Fernando Alexis Crespo Romero (Chile) and Sethuraman J (India) Based on the recommendation of their societies and teachers, we from ESI XXII Organizing and Scientific Committee finally accepted all our applicants and their requested draft papers The tentative ESI program became published in June 2004, the final program became completed at the beginning of July 2004 and distributed to all participants of our ESI The total number of young participants turned out be 23, and the number of invited lecturers was 9, thus the total number of all our guests became 32 Our ESI 2004 participants traveled to us from 20 different countries: Australia, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, France, India, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA In order to give to all our ESI participants the opportunity to make new scientific and social experiences, to learn and to develop their skills in the fields of optimization and data mining, to explore a country which is new for most of them, ESI XXII was organized on the wide and green campus of Middle East Technical University METU combines the advantages of fresh air and calmness with modern facilities and with the dynamical and vivid young atmosphere of student life ESI XXII took place in Exhibition Hall of University Library of METU Teachers and young participants were accommodated in Guesthouse and Students Guest House of METU The session program including a break at midday of three hours, the accommodation and feeding of the participants were organized in the neighbourhood of a 10 minutes walking distance The final programme can be found under http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/esi04/esiprog.pdf All invited speakers of ESI XXII, namely,          Prof Dr Alexander Rubinov (School of Information Technology and Mathematical Sciences, Ballarat, Australia), Prof Dr Lorenz T Biegler (Carnegie Mellon University, USA), Dr Sebnem Düzgün (METU, Ankara, Turkey), Prof Dr Sjur D Flam (Bergen University, Norway), Prof Dr Jacob Kogan (University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA), PD Dr Michael Kohler (University of Stuttgart, Germany), Prof Dr Jakob Krarup (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Prof Dr Boris Polyak (Institute of Control Science, Moscow, Russia), Prof Dr Georg Still (University of Twente, The Netherlands) remained for 6-16 days to share common time with our young people: at the lecture time, at the meals and social events, or just in between Their didactically well prepared and presented talks covered a wide range in the fields of optimization and data mining By us organizers, copies of the teacher’s lectures were distributed in the lecture room and will hopefully become helpful for further reading and learning by the participants All the talks can be found at ESI webpage (http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/esi04/index.html) At the last day of scientific program, July 23, ESI Diplomas (certificates) are handed out to all our ESI students Among the social events and activities which have been organized, we would like to mention:  welcome party given by Institute of Applied Mathematics (Friday, July 9)  trip by bus to Beypazari, a small Anatolian town on the silk road (Sunday, July 11)  visit of old city of Old City of Ankara and of famous Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Wednesday, July 13)  reception by Operational Research Society of Turkey (Friday, July 16)  trip to Cappadocia with sightseeing of spectacular nature and heritages of early Christianity (Saturday - Sunday, July 17-18)  Turkish night in Cappadocia (Saturday, July 17)  going into the mountains of METU and watching the sunset (Monday, July 19)  volleyball and football tournaments (Wednesday, July 21)  ESI 2004 dinner and farewell-party (Friday, July 23) The participants spent their further free time for sport activities, especially, swimming and walking, for shopping, dancing, for visiting Atatürk’s Mausoleum and, organized by themselves, for a “European Song Contest”, or just for discussing or resting By intensive sharing of common time, we also intended to have some continuous feedback from all participants, to hold on being sensitive about their questions (e.g., on computers with internet access which were well provided, on transportation or additional trips), their wishes (e.g., of dancing) and their problems (e.g., in case of illness) Based on this continuous attention and online exchange, we tried to serve our guests and new friends best possible According to the response given to us, the 23 students from Europe and all over the word, and the experienced invited ESI teachers really enjoyed our summer institute, its scientific and its social parts and events likewise The young participants appreciated the high quality of invited lectures, the handouts of their talks prepared, and they accepted their offer of scientific advice and personal exchange with pleasure From our invited speakers we heard how much they are in favour of the young people’s well behaviour and scientific level All of the participants seemed to be satisfied with the balance between organized time and free time The personal exchange we had, the collaboration and friendship founded and the e-mails we later on received show us that your guests enjoyed our ESI in Turkey very much We have invited the ESI participants to write us more about their further impressions about our Summer Institute and also by writing short reports and stories in the EURO initiative Branding OR of EURO Two ESI students, Jutta Gebert and Nicole Radde, prepared a short report about ESI 2004 (cf http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/EUROPT/BrandingOR.doc) as a contribution to this initiative Another one has been written by F Jarre, T Terlaky and G.-W Weber about those about challenging applications of Continuous Optimization (we mentioned this above) There have been two more and special ways how the participants’ satisfaction, closeness and identification with ESI XXII and its community manifested itself On the one hand, many participants became member of our EURO working group EUROPT Today we may state that about 50-60% of our ESI participants will collaborate within of EUROPT in future Based on a friendly and warm atmosphere at ESI 2005, the entire group of participants became some kind of a family, and various rich plans for future works and meetings became prepared Finally, in conversations at evenings of ESI 2004 held by the two IFORS students Fernando Alexis Crespo Romero (Chile) and Sethuraman J (India) with Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber, the ideas by Operations Research to serve the citizens of less developed countries; this led to the foundation of the group Young People for OR in Developing Countries (YORC) This group has many members now from various countries, an advisory board consisting of experienced and renowned colleagues, and a very good appreciation among the leaders of EURO! In fact, together with the corresponding “DC” group from OR Society of United Kingdom, YORC is hopefully becoming one the germ for founding EURO Working Group on Development at the occasion of EURO XXI Conference, July 2-5, 2005, in Reykjavik, Iceland! Of course, you are very welcome to join and work with us! Also for our ESI 2004, a EJOR special issue Optimization in Data Mining has been announced during ESI XXII The three guest editors will be Alexander Rubinov (University of Ballarat, Australia), Bülent Karasözen and Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber (METU, Ankara, Turkey) Corresponding editor-in-chief will be Jacques Teghem (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium) This special issue should be published at the end of 2005 Please find closer information about our call for papers and about EJOR’s instructions for authors in http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/EUROPT/ESI%202004-EJOR%20special%20issue.doc and in http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/EUROPT/European%20Journal%20of%20Operational %20Research.htm, respectively Once again we would like to express our gratitude to all people and organizations, especially EURO, who by their hard work and great sympathy, by strong devotion, confidence and financial support helped ESI XXII in Turkey to become a great success and service for scientific progress, a better understanding and heartfelt friendship in Europe and the world 2.c EURO Conference in 2004 At EURO XX Conference (http://www.euro-rhodes2004.org/) held at July 4-7, 2004, on Rhodes, Greece, EUROPT contributed by a semi-plenary lecture given by our friend from EUROPT and POP, Alexander Rubinov (School of Information Technology and Mathematical Sciences, Ballarat, Australia) and by sessions to three fields modern fields of modern continuous optimization These are Semi-Infinite Optimization and Related Topics, organized in a devoted way already by Miguel Goberna, Marco A Lopez (both from University of Alicante, Spain), Maxim Todorov (Universidad de las Americas, Puebla, Mexico), Optimization of Biosystems (Computational Biology), organized by Stefan W Pickl (University of Cologne, Germany) and Metin Türkay (Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey), and a third attractive session about Global Optimization organized by Mirjam Dür (TU Darmstadt, Germany) One more reason for us to be very glad is the finalization at the turn from 2004 to 2005 and and publication in 2005 of another Feature Cluster in European Journal of Operational Research prepared by us from EUROPT which appeared in 2005 This is a EURO special issue integrated as a mayor part into an EJOR issue, and it is called Advances in Continuous Optimization The guest editors are B Karasözen, M Pınar, T Terlaky and G.-W Weber Thanks to all who served among the 23 authors and coauthors of the papers and among the 14 referees! Activities Planned in 2005 In 2005, there is one highlight event which EUROPT organizes with its friends: (a) 17th EURO Mini Conference “Optimization in Industry”, but we also give contributions to (b) The 8th SIAM Conference on Optimization, (c) IFORS 2005, (d) International Symposium on Health Informatics and Bioinformatics, (e) Workshop “Sustainable Living in Rural Areas of Turkey”, and we finalize (f) two special issues of European Journal of Operational Research 3.a 17th EURO Mini Conference The 17th EURO Mini Conference is entitled Optimization in Industry and it is organized by o o o o Hungarian Operational Research Society (HORS), University of Pécs, EURO Working Group on Continuous Optimization (EUROPT) and co-sponsor and partner: German Operations Research Society (GOR) We are very happy that EURO accepted our application without problems, and that among all the applications for a EURO MC 2005, our one by EUROPT got it became ranked so highly! Furthermore, at the beginning of the year 2005, by GOR becoming our co-sponsor, what is more, a partnership between HORS and GOR was prepared and signed! This contract and friendship can prepare and open the way to various collaboration and exchange, e.g., an annual OR conference by both OR societies in Hungary in future! Aims and Scope of the Conference: In history, Hungary has been the home of renowned scientists from Operational Research, such as Farkas, von Neumann or Erdös But also in these modern times Hungary enjoys very much to host friends from OR, from EURO and all over the world In 2000, the year of the millenium, Hungary OR Society said a sincere welcome to the participants of XVII Conference in Budapest (July 16-19, 2000), and a few days before, at Second IPM Workshop IPM-2000 (Budapest, July 13-14, 2000), there was the birth town of EUROPT, which from 10 those days on became one of to the most active groups in EURO and has many members now from various countries Hungary is a land in the heart of Europe In spring of 2004, Hungary became a member of EU and reminded of its rich history From the very beginning of the nation, Hungary connected western and eastern cultural traditions – just as a bridge and between yesterday and tomorrow in a growing, developing and peaceful Europe And in these days, we look forward to a very remarkable and valuable scientific event: to 17 th EURO Mini Conference “Continuous Optimization in Industry”, Pécs, June 29 – July 1, 2005, well embedded likewise into these years’ scientific landscape and calendar of EURO! One of the most important concerns of our societies is the ensuring and continuous improvement of living standard which is impossible without fast development in all aspects of life, technology and science Nowadays, optimization is an enabling technology in innovation We aim to bring together practitioners of operations research from industry and economic practice with researchers, software developers and those operations researchers who are doing consultancy for companies The conference focuses on recent advances in the large scale continuous optimization and their applications in industry High performance optimization software and novel applications are reviewed as well Topics Include:          linear and nonlinear optimization, semidefinite and semi-infinite optimization, global and stochastic optimization, linear and nonlinear complementarity problems, constrained and unconstrained optimization, interior point techniques for linear and nonlinear optimization, nonsmooth optimization, derivative-free methods, generalized convexity/monotonicity and its applications, innovative applications of linear and nonlinear optimization Participants: Participants are expected both from academics institutions and industry Industry participants get in contact with leading experts of continuous optimization, learn the state of the art of research and about new academic software tools that has the potential of commercialization in the near future Academic participants are informed about the challenges industry faces and the need of industry when optimization problems are used for new product design and process optimization Moreover, the relatively low registration fee allows the participation of a considerable number of PhD students both from the new and forthcoming EU countries as well as from the old EU countries The Programme Committee consists of: 11 Chair: T Terlaky (McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada) F Bonnans (INRIA, France) H Frenk (Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) F Friedler (University of Veszprém, Veszprém, Hungary) F Gianessi (Pisa, Italy) F Jarre (University of Düsseldorf, Germany) B Karasözen (METU, Ankara, Turkey) J Kolumbán (Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania) M Lopez (Alicante, Spain) K Madsen (T.U Denmark, Denmark) A Nemirovskii (TECHNION, Haifa, Israel) T Rapcsák (MTA SZTAKI, Budapest, Hungary) F Rendl (Klagenfurt, Austria) J.-Ph Vial (Geneva, Switzerland) The members of Organizing Committee are: Chair: J Vörös (University of Pécs, Hungary) Zs Csizmadia (Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary) T Illés (Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary) S Komlósi (University of Pécs, Hungary) T Takács (tvưs University, Budapest, Hungary) T Szántai (BME, Budapest, Hungary) L Szeidl (University of Pécs, Hungary, President of HORS) G.-W Weber (METU, Ankara, Turkey) Invited Speakers Who Already Accepted: E Andersen (Odense University, Denmark; optimization software) R Ben-Tal (Technion, Haifa, Israel; robust optimization and applications) H.G Bock (University of Heidelberg, Germany; control and optimization) D den Hertog (Tilburg University, The Netherlands; design optimization) B.L Joffe (Aspentech, USA; chemical process industry) Co-Organizer of an Invited Session Who Already Accepted: J Pinter (PCS Inc & Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada; “Global Optimization Methods and Applications”) About Pécs: Pécs is a wonderful, historic and attractive city and participants and their guests will enjoy the old city, the many cultural sites, and the fine restaurants There is much for the tourist to see: Mysterious crypts from Roman times as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sights http://www.visualhungary.com copulated Turkish djamis, a slim minaret, exquisite Zsolnay ceramics, Csontváry paintings, decorative Vasarely patterns, almond trees blooming early in spring, atmospheric restaurants and cafés - this is Pécs, the 2000-year-old town with the Mediterranean climate and atmosphere at the southern foot of the Mecsek Hills Principal buildings in the city include an 11th-century Romanesque cathedral and two Ottoman mosques Rich in history and the overlay of successive European peoples, Pécs was the site of 12 the ancient Roman settlement of Sopianae In AD1009 it became a Roman Catholic bishopric From 1543 to 1686 the city was held by the Ottomans German miners came to Pécs in the 18th century to work the coal mines The population was further enlarged by migrations from rural Hungary late in the 19th century The University of Pécs (1922) occupies the site of the first university (1367) in Hungary During the days of 17th EURO Mini Conference in Pécs, we want to enjoy famous hospitality of Hungary, a nation and bridge right in the heart of Europe, and cordially invite all our friends – you – to this collaboration, celebration and step into our common future! 3.b The 8th SIAM Conference on Optimization This year’s optimization conference on optimization will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, at May 15-18, 2005 (http://www.siam.org/meetings/op05/) There will be, among many EUROPT members organizing, participating, speaking or presenting posters, two Mini Symposia organized by EUROPT, namely, one on (Linear) Semi-Infinite Programming I prepared by Marco A Lopez (University of Alicante, Spain), one on (Nonlinear) Semi-Infinite Programming II prepared by Jan-J Rückmann (Universidad de Las Americas, Puebla, Mexico) and, finally, an associated Mini Symposium How Curly the Central Path Can Be? organized by Tamas Terlaky (Mc Master University, Hamilton, Canada) To all these friend and also to our friend Sven-Aake Gustafson (University of Stavanger, Norway) who inspired us to this piece of “EURO” in Stockholm, we express our sincere gratitude! 3.c IFORS 2005 The precious and attractive event of IFORS 2005 (http://www.informs.org/Conf/IFORS2005/) will take place in on wonderful Hawaii, at July 11-15 Besides a number of our EUROPT members actively participating there, EUROPT will contribute there by sessions Pricing and Transportation organized by our friend Tatiana Tchemisova (University of Aveiro, Portugal) We are very grateful to her and also to PC members and friends Ariela Sofa (George Mason University, Fairfax, Washington DC, USA), who is hosting and sponsoring the sessions, and Shuzhong Zhang (Chinese University of Hong Kong, China), and to our friends George Leitmann (University of California, Berkeley, USA) and Luca Lambertini (University of Bologna, Italy) who encouraged us Also 3.d International Symposium on Health Informatics and Bioinformatics which will be held in Belek, Anatalya, Turkey, at November 10-12, 2005, will certainly become very interesting and attractive (http://hibit05.ii.metu.edu.tr/index.html) At this occasion, we also would like to mention there is a further project on a new EURO WG where EUROPT is working for In fact, at EURO 2006 we plan to establish EURO Working Group on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics The friends involved in this preparation are Jacek Blasewicz, Stefan W Pickl, Metin Türkay and Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber Of course, you are also warmly welcome 3.e Workshop “Sustainable Living in Rural Areas of Turkey” This workshop which really was a forum of learning, discussion and looking for the improvement of living conditions on Turkish rural countryside took place at March 7-21 at METU, Ankara, Turkey It happened at the occasion of Dr Dorien DeTombe’s second visit at 13 Institute of Applied Mathematics (IAM, METU) She is chairperson of International and EURO Working Group on Complex Societal Problems which is closely related with EUROPT; in the area of these problems, more and more methods from OR are needed nowadays This workshop was prepared with “Balaban Valley Group” (METU) and Computational Biology and Medicine Group of IAM, METU (organizers: D DeTombe, A Gökmen, I Gökmen, B Karasözen, G.-W Weber) Improving the living conditions on the country in Turkey and other European countries is very important also for prevention of big migration streams in and among the nations of Europe and, herewith, for social peace in a uniting Europe Please visit http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/EUROPT/workshop-program.doc for closer information about the workshop We note that at the conference EURO 2006 which will be briefly announced below, we shall pay special attention to the aspect of sustainable development and living Finally, about 3.f Two Further Special Issues of EJOR we already gave closer information in Section 2.b Let us conclude with a short outlook to the year 2006 At the end of June and beginning of July 2006, we are going to celebrate two meetings in Reykjavik, Iceland: our Fifth EUROPT Workshop “Advances in Continuous Optimization” which will have an additional and special theme “Applications in the Energy Sector” (http://wwwhome.math.utwente.nl/~stillgj/COPT06/) and, then, EURO XXI conference (http://www.euro2006.org/) This conference has an important special theme, OR for Better Management of Sustainable Development, and it will cover the wide range of OR and Continuous Optimization We are going to have many interesting streams in our scientific area! Perhaps, you would like to note these two events on Iceland already There is one more good news: Together with German OR Society we successfully applied for a EURO Summer Institute 2006 “Optimization Challenges in Engineering: Methods, Software, and Applications” in Wittenberg, Germany! Thanks to all who encouraged, supported and prepare now! More details and names will be given in future Let us be looking forward and express our gratitude to all our many members of EUROPT – there are 240 ones today – and its many friends, individuals and institutions! Among the institutions we cordially remind and thank again: EURO, IAM of METU, GOR, ORST, HORS, POP, SIAM, IFORS, ALIO, University of the Aegean, University of Pécs, EJOR, TÜBITAK, YORC, Balaban Valley Group, and International and EURO Working Group on Complex Societal Problems! With you and them and many coming ones we want to go on serving for fruitful collaboration, friendship and peace! With best wishes, cordially yours, Florian Jarre Gerhard-WilhelmWeber Coordinator of EUROPT Vice Coordinator of EUROPT http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/EUROPT/ 14 ... interplay between EUROPT workshop and EURO, in the organization of EURO sessions by some of the many active members of EUROPT We note a further contribution of our group( s) to EURO conference given... University of Pécs, EURO Working Group on Continuous Optimization (EUROPT) and co-sponsor and partner: German Operations Research Society (GOR) We are very happy that EURO accepted our application without... shape-design, optimization of biosystems, optimization of service and transportation systems optimization and control of industrial processes and With all these common impressions and outlooks Prof Dr