A theoretical framework can be used to treat approximation techniques for very general classes of parameter estimation problems involving distributed systems that are either first or second order in time. Using the approach developed, one can obtain both convergence and stability (continuous dependence of parameter estimates with respect to the observations) under very weak regularity and compactness assumptions on the set of admissible parameters. This unified theory can be used for many problems found in the recent literature and in many cases offers significant improvements to existing results. Keywords: Approximation; Parameter estimation; Partial differential equations.

Inverse problems arise in many disciplines and hold great importance to practical applications. However, sound new methods are needed to solve these problems. Over the past few years, Japanese and Korean mathematicians have obtained a number of very interesting and unique results in inverse problems. Inverse Problems and Related Topics compi

This volume presents state-of-the-art reports on the theory, and current and future applications of control of distributed parameter systems. The papers cover the progress not only in traditional methodology and pure research in control theory, but also the rapid growth of its importance for different applications. This title will be of interest to researchers working in the areas of mathematics, automatic control, computer science and engineering.

The research detailed in this monograph was originally motivated by our interest in control problems involving partial and delay differential equations. Our attempts to apply control theory techniques to such prob lems in several areas of science convinced us that in the need for better and more detailed models of distributed/ continuum processes in biology and mechanics lay a rich, interesting, and challenging class of fundamen tal questions. These questions, which involve science and mathematics, are typical of those arising in inverse or parameter estimation problems. Our efforts on inverse problems for distributed parameter systems, which are infinite dimensional in the most common realizations, began about seven years ago at a time when rapid advances in computing capabilities and availability held promise for significant progress in the development of a practically useful as well as theoretically sound methodology for such problems. Much of the research reported in our presentation was not begun when we outlined the plans for this monograph some years ago. By publishing this monograph now, when only a part of the originally intended topics are covered (see Chapter VII in this respect), we hope to stimulate the research and interest of others in an area of scientific en deavor which has exceeded even our optimistic expectations with respect to excitement, opportunity, and stimulation. The computer revolution alluded to above and the development of new codes allow one to solve rather routinely certain estimation problems that would have been out of the question ten years ago.

This volume contains a collection of papers delivered by the partici pants at the second Conference on Computation and Control held at Mon tana State University in Bozeman, Montana from August 1-7, 1990. The conference, as well as this proceedings, attests to the vitality and cohesion between the control theorist and the numerical analyst that was adver tised by the first Conference on Computation and Control in 1988. The proceedings of that initial conference was published by Birkhiiuser Boston as the first volume of this same series entitled Computation and Control, Proceedings of the Bozeman Conference, Bozeman, Montana, 1988. Control theory and numerical analysis are both, by their very nature, interdisciplinary subjects as evidenced by their interaction with other fields of mathematics and engineering. While it is clear that new control or es timation algorithms and new feedback design methodologies will need to be implemented computationally, it is likewise clear that new problems in computational mathematics arise when implementing a new generation of control algorithms. For these reasons, computational mathematics is mov ing to the forefront in recent developments in modern control theory and conversely control theory and its applications continue to be a fertile area for computationalists. This volume contains a representative cross section of the interdisciplinary blend of analytic and numerical techniques that of ten occur between advanced control design and practical numerical solution of lumped and distributed parameter systems.

This volume contains the proceedings of the eighteenth International Workshop on Operator Theory and Applications (IWOTA), hosted by the Unit for Business Mathematics and Informatics of North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa from July 3 to 6, 2007. The conference (as well as these proceedings) was dedicated to Professors Joseph A. Ball and Marinus M. Kaashoek on the occasion of their 60th and 70th birthdays, respectively. This conference had a particular focus on Von Neumann algebras at the interface of operator theory with functional analysis and on applications of operator theory to differential equations.