Inverse Problems in Engineering - vol I
This book contains the
papers presented in the 4 th International Conference on Inverse Problems in
Engineering: Theory and Practice. This conference is or-ganized under the auspices
of United Engineering Foundation and is held in a three-year cycle. Previous
versions took place in Palm Coast, Florida, in 1993; in Le Croisic, France,
in 1996; and in Port Ludlow, Washington State, in 1999. The series of Inter-national
Conferences on Inverse Problems in Engineering: Theory and Prac-tice finds its
roots in the informal seminars organized by Prof. James V. Beck at Michigan
State University, which were initiated in 80s.
The 4 th International Conference on Inverse Problems in Engineering: Theory
and Practice was held during May 26 31, 2002, in the beautiful Hotel
Portobello Resort & Safari, located near the city of Rio de Janeiro. The
resort provided a unique atmosphere for 99 conference participants, from 21
different countries, to present their most recent research results and for the
technical discussion of their findings. The 4 th International Conference on
Inverse Problems in Engineering: Theory and Practice was co-promoted by the
Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences (ABCM), the Brazilian Society of Computational
and Applied Mathematics (SBMAC), and by COPPE, which is the graduate school
in engineering of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). It was co-sponsored
by the following agencies of the Brazil-ian Government: CNPq, from the Ministry
of Science and Technology; CAPES, from the Ministry of Education and Culture;
and the National Oil Agency (ANP), from the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
The 4 th International Conference on Inverse Problems in Engineering: Theory
and Practice counted with 159 submitted abstracts, resulting on 104 accepted
papers. A total of 98 papers were scheduled for presentation in the conference,
distributed in 25 oral sessions and in 1 poster session. Invited key-note lecturers
were presented by Prof. A. Yagola (Russia), Prof. G. Chavent (France), Prof.
O. Alifanov (Russia), Prof. Y. Jarny (France) and Prof. N-Z. Sun (USA). Prof.
K. Woodbury (USA) and Prof. B.Blackwell (USA) were invited to give tutorial
sessions. I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the organizing
and scientific committees for playing a fundamental role towards the success
of the conference, as well as to the invited speakers for kindly accept-ing
my invitation to share with the participants their knowledge on important sub-jects
in the inverse problems field. Because of the large number of papers sub-mitted,
several other reviewers were invited to give their contributions to the con-ference
by evaluating papers, in addition to the members of the organizing and scientific
committees. They include Prof. J. P. Kaipio (Finland), Prof. L. Olson (USA),
Prof. A. Haji-Sheikh (USA), Prof. J. G. Berryman (USA), Prof. R. Y. Qassim (Brazil),
Prof. B. Dennis (Japan), Prof. G. R. Liu (Taiwan), Prof. H. Telega (Poland),
Prof. V. Steffen Jr. (Brazil), Prof. F. Rochinha (Brazil) and Prof. M. D. Mikhailov
(Brazil).
It was a great honor for Brazil to host the 4th International Conference on Inverse Problems in Engineering: Theory and Practice and, personally for myself, to be its chairman. The next conference shall take place in the United Kingdom in 2005 and Prof. Daniel Lesnic has agreed to lead the organizing committee for that event.
Helcio
R. B. Orlande
Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil