This book concerns matter that is intrinsically difficult: convex optimization, complementarity and duality, nonsmooth analysis, linear and nonlinear programming, etc. The author has skillfully introduced these and many more concepts, and woven them into a seamless whole by retaining an easy and consistent style throughout. The book is not all theory: There are many real-life applications in structural engineering, cable networks, frictional contact problems, and plasticity... I recommend it to any reader who desires a modern, authoritative account of nonsmooth mechanics and convex optimization.
-- Prof. Graham M.L. Gladwell, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Waterloo, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
... reads very well--the structure is good, the language and style are clear and fluent, and the material is rendered accessible by a careful presentation that contains many concrete examples. The range of applications, particularly to problems in mechanics, is admirable and a valuable complement to theoretical and computational investigations that are at the forefront of the areas concerned.
-- Prof. B. Daya Reddy, Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, Director of Centre for Research in Computational and Applied Mechanics, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Many materials and structures (e.g., cable networks, membrane) involved in practical engineering applications have complex responses that cannot be described by smooth constitutive relations. ... The author shows how these difficult problems can be tackled in the framework of convex analysis by arranging the carefully chosen materials in an elegant way. Most of the contents of the book are from the original contributions of the author. They are both mathematically rigorous and readable. This book is a must-read for anyone who intends to get an authoritative and state-of-art description for the analysis of nonsmooth mechanics problems with theory and tools from convex analysis.
-- Prof. Xu Guo, State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Dalian University of Technology
About the Author: Yoshihiro Kanno is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematical Informatics at the University of Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Kanno received his Ph.D in structural engineering from Kyoto University, Japan, in 2002. He received the Maeda Prize in Engineering in 2005 and CJK-OSM4 Award for Young Investigator in 2006.
The author and coauthor of numerous professional articles on applied mechanics and optimization, Dr. Kanno's research interest is in the interface between mechanics and mathematics. He is a member of the International Society for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Architectural Institute of Japan, and the Operations Research Society of Japan.
