This special issue of the journal Optimization is devoted to selected papers presented at The 24th Mini-EURO Conference on ‘Continuous Optimization and Information-Based Technologies in the Financial Sector’, which was held in Izmir during 23–26 June 2010.
This international conference was organized under the cooperation of Izmir University of Economics, Association of the European Operational Research Societies (EURO), Continuous Optimization Working Group of EURO (EUROPT), Operational Research Societies of Turkey and Germany and Middle East Technical University.
We would like to acknowledge the financial supports from the Izmir University of Economics, İzmir Chamber of Commerce, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, The European Office of Aerospace Research & Development (EOARD), EURO, The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and NETSIS Software.
The sessions were held in Conference Hall and in six classrooms of Izmir University of Economics.
The social program included the wine and cheese party on June 22 and welcome reception on June 23 at the facilities of Izmir University of Economics, the conference dinner on June 24 at Izmir Konağı Restaurant, banquet on June 25 at Derya Restaurant and an excursion to the Antique City of Efes, House of Virgin Mary and Sirince Town on June 26.
We had the honour to invite many famous experts in global optimization and financial applications to give plenary and semi-plenary lectures in the conference. Terry Rockafellar, Roger J-B Wets, Panos M. Pardalos, Juan Enrique Martínez-Legaz, Ulrich Horst and Süleyman Özekici were the plenary speakers. Kenneth Kortanek, Georg Ch. Pflug, Asaf Hajiyev and Refail Kasımbeyli were the semi-plenary speakers. All of them have achieved a great progress in their own fields. We appreciate their outstanding contribution to the conference. This is the mark of the scientific level of this conference.
A total of 221 scholars from 32 countries attended the conference. The participants were invited to submit their contribution to a special issue. The eight papers it contains cover a wide variety of topics, including theory, algorithms and applications of optimization. All papers were reviewed by at least two independent referees.
We are grateful to Professor Juan Enrique Martinez-Legaz, the Editor-in-chief of Optimization, for granting this special issue and for his encouragement and guidance during the preparations and publication of the issue. We convey our special gratitude to Dr Rosalind Elster, Managing Editor of the journal Optimization, for her valuable collaboration, support and care at each stage of preparation of this special issue.
Finally, we would like to acknowledge the contributors, in particular the organizers of the conference, authors and the referees of the papers, for their contributions to the special issue.
Refail Kasimbeyli
Anadolu University
Industrial Engineering Department
Iki Eylul Kampusu, 26470 Eskisehir
Turkey
Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber
Institute of Applied Mathematics
Middle East Technical University
06531 Ankara
Turkey
Cemali Dinçer
Faculty of Engineering
Department of Industrial Engineering
Istanbul Bilgi University
Istanbul, Turkey