In this report the topological and geometrical aspects of the circuit layout problem are compared. A circuit layout procedure, based on topological factors, is presented. Whereas most circuit layout procedures are concerned mainly with geometrical aspects, the method described in this report attempts to find a topologically feasible solution to the problem first. From this topological layout, a physical layout is obtained in a second phase. This method can be especially useful for problems where a complete (100%) layout is mandatory. (Author).

One service mathematics has rendered the 'Et moi, .... si favait su comment en revenir, je n'y seTais point alle.' human race. It has put common sense back Jules Verne where it belongs. on the topmost shelf next to the dusty canister labelled 'discarded n- sense', The series is divergent; therefore we may be Eric T. Bell able to do something with it. O. Heaviside Mathematics is a tool for thought. A highly necessary tool in a world where both feedback and non­ linearities abound. Similarly, all kinds of parts of mathematics serve as tools for other parts and for other sciences. Applying a simple rewriting rule to the quote on the right above one finds such statements as: 'One service topology has rendered mathematical physics .. .'; 'One scrvice logic has rendered com­ puter science .. .'; 'One service category theory has rendcred mathematics .. .'. All arguably true. And all statements obtainable this way form part of the raison d'e"tre of this scries.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the First Annual International Conference on Computing and Combinatorics, COCOON '95, held in Xi'an, China in August 1995. The 52 thoroughly refereed full papers and the 22 short presentations included in this volume were selected from a total of 120 submissions. All current aspects of theoretical computer science and combinatorial mathematics related to computing are addressed; in particular, there are sections on complexity theory, graph drawing, computational geometry, databases, graph algorithms, distributed programming and logic, combinatorics, machine models, combinatorial designs, algorithmic learning, algorithms, distributed computing, and scheduling.