This book presents a variety of advanced research papers in optimization and dynamics written by internationally recognized researchers in these fields. As an example of applying optimization in sport, it introduces a new method for finding the optimal bat sizes in baseball and softball. The book is divided into three parts: operations research, dynamics, and applications. The operations research section deals with the convergence of Newton-type iterations for solving nonlinear equations and optimum problems, the limiting properties of the Nash bargaining solution, the utilization of public goods, and optimizing lot sizes in the automobile industry. The topics in dynamics include special linear approximations of nonlinear systems, the dynamic behavior of industrial clusters, adaptive learning in oligopolies, periodicity in duopolies resulting from production constraints, and dynamic models of love affairs. The third part presents applications in the fields of reverse logistic network design for end-of-life wind turbines, fuzzy optimization of the structure of agricultural products, water resources management in the restoration plans for a lake and also in groundwater supplies. In addition it discusses applications in reliability engineering to find the optimal preventive replacement times of deteriorating equipment and using bargaining theory to determine the best maintenance contract. The diversity of the application areas clearly illustrates the usefulness of the theory and methodology of optimization and dynamics in solving practical problems.

Autorentext
Akio Matsumoto, Dept. of Economics, Chuo University

Inhalt
Part 1: Operations Research.- Chap. 1 Developments on the convergence of some iterative methods.- Chap. 2 The non-symmetric L-Nash bargaining solution.- Chap. 3 Exploring Efficient Reward Strategies to Encourage Large-Scale Cooperation among Boundedly Rational Players with the Risk and Impact of the Public Good.- Chap. 4 Analyzing the impact of process improvement on lot sizes in JIT environment when capacity utilization follows Beta distribution.- Part II: Dynamics- Chap. 5 Periodicity induced by production constraints in Cournot duopoly models with unimodal reaction curves.- Chap. 6 An Adaptive Learning Model for Competing Firms in an Industry.- Chap. 7 The Coordination and Dynamic Analysis of Industrial Clusters: A Multi-agent Simulation Study.- Chap. 8 Approximation of LPV-systems with constant parametric switching systems.- Chap. 9 Love affairs dynamics with one delay in losing memory or gaining affection.- Part III: Applications.- Chap. 10 Optimizing baseballand softball bats.-Chap. 11 Reverse Logistic Network Design for End-of-Life Wind Turbines.- Chap. 12 Maintenance outsourcing contracts bases on bargaining theory.- Chap. 13 Agricultural production planning in a fuzzy environment.- Chap. 14 Optimal Replacement Decisions with Mound-Shaped Failure Rates.- Chap. 15 A system dynamics approach to simulate the restoration plans of Urmia lake, Iran.- Chap. 16 A decision support system for managing water resources in real-time under uncertainty.