xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF DYNAMIC GAMES E-LETTER, issue No. 30, September 4, 1998 Edited by Raimo P. Hamalainen and Harri Ehtamo Systems Analysis Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology ISDG@HUT.FI xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Dear Dynamic Game Theorist, This is the thirtieth issue of the Society's electronic newsletter. The basic minimum work principle in editing this e-letter is that the READERS send important notes and information about symposia, conferences and workshops of dynamic games, as well as abstracts of Ph.D. theses, papers and books, which they want to be included in the newsletter. The format is described below. We hope that no retyping will be needed so please follow the instructions and sample shown below carefully. The news should be concise to keep the newsletter readable. Requests for more complete information about any news item should be directed to its contributor. We appreciate any comments and suggestions that you may have on this e-letter. Looking forward to receiving your news contributions. Raimo P. Hamalainen and Harri Ehtamo xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Contributed by the Editors Sep 4 MODEL FOR NEWS SUBMISSIONS Maximum line length is 72 characters. Place the text between two lines of x:ses. The first line should state "Contributed by" and followed by the contributor's name, in brackets and the date. Then there should be a title line and the text. This info block should be sent to ISDG at HUT.FI xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Contributed by Tuomas Raivio Sep 4 ISDG in the Web The ISDG home page is located at http://www.hut.fi/HUT/Systems.Analysis/isdg Currently the pages contain a short description of the society, a list of members, and copies of past ISDG News. >From now on, the pages are administrated by Tuomas Raivio. The pages will be revised soon; if you have any ideas concerning the pages, please send e-mail to tuomas.raivio@hut.fi xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Contributed by Alain Haurie Jul 13 Minutes ot the GA (General Assembly of the ISDG) and EC (Executive Board of the ISDG): A first meeting of the EC has been organized on Sunday evening July 5. The main topic on the agenda was the nomination of candidates for replacing the members leaving the EC. The GA has been held on Monday July 6 at 2:15 p.m. The agenda was the following: 1. Address by Prof. Aumann concerning the creation of the Game Theory Society. A new international Society is being created. It will encompass all aspects of game theory. The members of the society will receive a subscription to the two journals IJGT and GEB at a very reasonable price (around $75). A large conference is scheduled to be held in Stockholm in year or two. The ISDG is invited to associate itself with this larger Game Theory Society. 2. Election of new members of the EC. After the nomination process has ended there was possible to propose a slate of 8 persons to be elected as members of the EC - A. Haurie (2 year mandate) - P. Bernhard (4 year mandate) - R. Hamalainen (4 year mandate) - K. Vrieze (2 year mandate) - O. Pourtallier (4 year mandate) - G. Zaccour (4 year mandate) - M. Breitner (4 year mandate) - L. Petrosjan (4 year mandate) The GA accepts unanimously the proposed slate. The new EC is now composed of these 8 persons plus the 4 members continuing their mandates for two more years - J. Morgan (2 year mandate) - K. Mizukami (2 year mandate) - J. Filar (2 year mandate) - A. Melikyan (2 year mandate) 3. News from the Society The President first reminds the GA about the Society web page and the e-mail Newsletter that are managed and maintained very efficiently by the Helsinki Systems Analysis group, under the guidance of R. Hamalainen. 3.1. News from the Annals T. Basar, the series editor for the Annals of the ISDG recalls that there have been already 3 books produced, two of them based on papers presented in the ISDG symposia of Grimentz and St Jovite respectively, and a third one on the topic " Control and Game theoretic models of the environment". Two more volumes are close to the marketing stage, the volume edited by J. Filar and V. Gaitsgory that is based on the papers presented in the Shimomura meeting, and a volume edited by Bardi and Raghavan on computational methods in dynamic game theory. A new volume is planned for the papers submitted at the occasion of the Maastricht symposium. T. Basar invites interested persons to propose projects for new thematic volumes. 3.2 Report from the President The president recalls what has been his policy during the 4 years of his tenure (see the attached report from the President). He reminds the GA that it was accepted in Dec. 1996 that the ISDG should be run according to the proposed by laws that are detailed in Newsletter #24, except for the payment of membership dues. The president then asked for an indicative vote about the acceptability of a membership fee comprised between $50 and $75 and which would provide a subscription to the Annals (at least the volumes produced after the symposia) and a rebate on the symposium registration fee. Among 90 participants in the GA, 35 accepted the principle, 1 rejected it and the rest was "indifferent". 3.3. Electronic Dynamic Games Letters The President recalls also his desire to promote a new type of publication vector, namely a journal in the form of "Letters", i.e., short communications with rapid publication process. The journal would be run mostly on the web via internet. This scheme seems to be attractive to many members of the ISDG. 4. Plans for next ISDG meetings. 4.1 ISDG Workshop 1999 According to the proposed bylaws the EC should meet at least once a year. Consequently, starting in 1997, with the organization of the Sils Maria workshop, the Society will organize every other year a workshop with limited participation. The 1999 workshop will take place in the Naples region in May or early June. Jacqueline Morgan will be the organizer. 4.2 ISDG Symposium 2000 The next ISDSG symposium will be held in Adelaide Australia December 18-21, 2000. The location will probably be a resort on the seaside close to Kangaroo Island. The dates of the meeting have been chosen such that it can be combined with the IEEE CDC to be held in Sydney December 13-15, 2000. A. Nowak will chair the program committee and J. Filar will chair the local organizing committee. 5. New President and Secretary of the Society According to the proposed bylaws, the EC selects among its members the officers of the Society for a period of two years. P. Bernhard is elected for the position of President and R. Hamalainen is reelected as Secretary of the Society. These nominations have been announced at the Banquet evening, Tuesday, July 7. 6. Plans for the 2002 symposium The new EC, in its first meeting has approved the selection of St Petersburg as the place for the 2002 ISDG symposium. L. Petrosjan has to submit a formal proposal with a detailed description of the arrangements, to the President, before the end of the year. * * * Message of the President Dear members of the ISDG: I have been President of the Society for the past four years and I thank you for the support you gave me for that purpose. I also thank more specifically the past President, T. Basar, for his help and advises, the organizers of the ISDG symposia in 1996 (Mizukami/Imado and Filar/Gaitsgory) and 1998 (Altman/Pourtallier and Vrieze/Thuisjman) and the EC members. I wish success to the new President, Pierre Bernhard, and I am sure that the Society will continue to flourish and develop under his leadership. During my tenure I tried to define a clear strategy for the Society. This strategy would be based on the following premises: 1. Give a clear description of the services that the ISDG provides to its members. The ISDG fosters the development of a theory of dynamical systems with interacting agents with applications in engineering, social and life sciences. The Society organizes or sponsors symposia, workshops and meetings on topics of interest to its members. The Society proposes various publication vectors to disseminate results of archival value on the theory and applications of dynamic games. The Society encourages the work of young researchers in the domain, eventually by the creation of one or several awards. 2. Run the Society according to a precise set of rules that permit the full democratic participation of the membership in its direction. A set of bylaws has been proposed. They describe the procedures to run the Society. These rules have been described at the 1996 GA held in Shonan Village, Japan, and the Society has been run according to them since then, with the exception of the payment of membership dues. 3. Make the decision to become a member a more "affirmative" one by requiring a payment of a fee, justified by the services provided. If the Society wants to provide good services to its members it has to develop some means to achieve those aims. For example, if one wants to offer rewards to young researchers one has to organize their financing. Similarly, the conference budget should be under a more precise control of the Society, which should keep the possible budgetary surplus in an account as a hedge against possible worse times. These two aspects already call for a management of a proper fund of the Society. This would also permit the organization of a more precise membership process, based on annual or biannual dues. The payment of dues could be combined with the registration fee of the biannual symposium, so the present system would be more or less preserved. I recall that, currently, the registration fee includes an amount for the advance payment of a volume of the Annals. So, instead of a book, the participant would receive a membership card, valid for two years. The membership would entail the subscription to the Annals volume. This scheme which would not disturb much our present way of functioning would also permit the admission of members at any other time, with full access to the different services offered by the Society. In addition we could easily design a reduced rate system for members from developing countries or for students. Indeed the development of a financial aspect in the Society will necessitate the election of a Treasurer. I firmly believe, with several other members of the EC and of the Society that we are more than ready to make such a move. A more active involvement of the members is required if the Society wants to continue to exist as a successful independent body, maybe federated with the forthcoming Game Theory Society. During my tenure I defended this policy but I did not try to impose it, knowing that some members were afraid by the possible consequences of this move toward membership dues. It is now the task of the new President to decide about the appropriate course of action for assuring the future of the Society. 4. A way to increase the services offered by the Society to its members and a motivating project could be to launch a new type of journal, called Dynamic Game Letters. It would have the following characteristics: - The journal will publish high quality short papers and communication items. The submissions will be either accepted or rejected, i.e. there will be no lengthy correction and improvement process. - The journal will commit itself to a publication delay of less than a year, at least for its electronic version, (see below). - The journal could be accessible both as a hard paper bound copy and on an electronic support. Running the journal electronically will permit us to reduce the publication delay and, also, to propose new ways of exposing our research, with possible interactive demos. Such a journal, in combination with the book series of the Annals will provide a good range of publication services to the members of the ISDG. With the support of the new President and the EC I would be glad to explore in further detail the setting up of such a journal. I invite all members who have an interest in this project to get in touch with me and to give their comments. 6. In conclusion, the ISDG is in good shape. The two last symposia have demonstrated our ability to attract new participants and to build ties with the groups working on "classical games" paradigms. The number of registrations has steadily increased. The structuring that is taking place in the Game Theory Society is forcing our own Society to devise precise plans for its future. This is the challenge that Pierre Bernhard has accepted to meet and I wish him the best luck in this endeavor. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Contributed by Chia Li Sung Aug 24 International Game Theory Review (IGTR) Announcing a New Journal on Game Theory ! ! ! See information on IGTR in our home page at http://www.wspc.com.sg/journals/igtr/igtr.html Just have a look at it! Please contact me at lschia@wspc.com.sg if you need any other information. Best Regards Chia Li Sung Marketing Trainee World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Visit our home page also at http://www.worldscientific.com/ and enjoy a 15% discount storewide in addition to a lucky draw entry. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Contributed by Martino Bardi Sep. 4 Announcing a new book OPTIMAL CONTROL AND VISCOSITY SOLUTIONS OF HAMILTON-JACOBI-BELLMAN EQUATIONS by Martino Bardi (Universita of Padova, Italy) and Italo Capuzzo-Dolcetta (University of Roma "La Sapienza", Italy) The book presents a self-contained account of the theory of viscosity solutions for 1st order partial differential equations of Hamilton- Jacobi type and its interplay with the Bellman-Isaacs Dynamic Programming approach to optimal control and differential games. After a long introduction giving an informal exposition of the main ideas of the book, we introduce the general theory of continuous viscosity solutions and apply it to several deterministic optimal control problems for nonlinear systems (infinite and finite horizon, minimal time, optimal stopping, impulse control, problems with state constraints, etc.). Then we turn to the theory of discontinuous viscosity solutions and their applications to asymptotic problems (singular perturbations, ergodic problems, etc.) and to approximation schemes for the value function and for optimal feedback controls based on Dynamic Programming. The last chapter is devoted to two-person, zero-sum differential games and their Isaacs equations. Further topics of interest for applications are treated in two long appendices. The first, by M. Falcone, deals with the numerical solution of Dynamic Programming equations for problems with one and two players. The second, by P. Soravia, is about nonlinear H-infinity control and the associated differential games. The historical notes provide a guide to a bibliography including more that 500 titles. Title: Optimal Control and Viscosity Solutions of Hamilton-Jacobi- Bellman Equations. Authors: M. Bardi, I. Capuzzo-Dolcetta Publisher: Birkhauser, Boston. Series: Systems and Control: Foundation and Applications Pages: 570 + xvii Price: $ 94.50 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx End of ISDG E-LETTER issue No. 30, September 4, 1998