This series aims at reporting new developments of a high mathematical standard and of current interest. Each volume in the series shall be devoted to mathematical analysis that has been applied, or potentially applicable to the solutions of scientific, engineering, and social problems. The first volume of WSSIAA contains 42 research articles on differential equations by leading mathematicians from all over the world. This volume has been dedicated to V. Lakshmikantham on his 65th birthday for his significant contributions in the field of differential equations. Some of the contributors of this volume are - N.U. Ahmed, O. Arino, D. Bainov, K.W. Chang, Shui-Nee Chow, C. Corduneanu, K. Deimling, M.S.P. Eastham, P.W. Eloe, L.H. Erbe, W.D. Evans, W.N. Everitt, H.I. Freedman, K. Gopalsamy, I. Gyori, A. Halanay, T.G. Hallam, J. Henderson, S.K. Kaul, J. Kato, W. Kelley, Y. Kitamura, H.W. Knobloch, T. Kusano, Man Kam Kwong, G. Ladas, B.S. Lalli, J. Mawhin, A.B. Mingarelli, Z. Nashed, F. Neuman, J.J. Nieto, A. Peterson, Donal O'Regan, K. Schmitt, V. Seda, I.P. Stavroulakis, C.A. Swanson, Y. Takeuchi, W. Trench, G. Vidossich, P. Volkmann, Hans-Otto Walther, G.F. Webb Static Optimization of Queueing Systems / O. J. Boxma -- On Properties of Newton's Method for Smooth and Nonsmooth Equations / O. Burdakov -- Relations between Invex Properties / B. D. Craven -- Dual Cones in Spaces of Convex Sets and Fuzzy Sets / P. Diamond, A. Vladimirov and P. Kloeden -- Dual Barrier-Projection Methods in Linear Programming / Y. G. Evtushenko and V. G. Zhadan -- Solving Parameter Identification Problems on a Parallel-Vector Computer / I. Galligani and M. Bertaja -- Images, Separation of Sets and Extremum Problems / F. Giannessi and T. Rapcsak -- Parameter Estimation Under Distributed Constraints: Two Algorithms for Convex Semi-Infinite Quadratic Programming Problems / G. O. Guardabassi, J. C. Geromel and X. Jian -- Appell's Equations of Motion and the Generalized Inverse Form / C. Itiki, R. E. Kalaba and F. E. Udwadia -- Plant Optimization and Performance Monitoring / M. A. Johnson and M. R. Katebi -- Planning for the "Big One" / R. Kalaba and R. Xu