Saturday, October 8, 2016

[DMANET] Two special issues (DAM & JOGO) dedicated to Distance Geometry

Following the Distance Geometry Theory and Applications (DGTA16)
workshop, organized at DIMACS last July 2016
<http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/Distance/>, we are calling for
contributions to two special journal issues dedicated to the topics of
the workshop, but open to everyone: one in Discrete Applied Mathematics
(DAM) and the other in the Journal of Global Optimization (JOGO). Both
of these issues will be co-edited by:
- Farid Alizadeh (Rutgers University, USA)
- Douglas Goncalves (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil)
- Nathan Krislock (Northern Illinois University, USA)
- Leo Liberti (CNRS & Ecole Polytechnique, France).

Distance Geometry (DG) in its broader definition is the study of
geometry mostly based on distances between entities. More specifically,
DG is the study of metric spaces. Its main problem is the DG Problem
(DGP), which is an inverse problem that occurs frequently in many
applications, such as, e.g., sensor localization in wireless networks,
synchronization protocols, determination of protein structure (or
nanostructures) through NMR data, localization of fleets of autonomous
underwater vehicles, flexibility or reach of robotic structures,
rigidity of architectural structures, and more. Given an integer K and a
graph G=(V,E) with weights d_ij on the edges {i,j}, the problem is to
determine positions x_i (for each vertex i) in a K-dimensional Euclidean
space such that, for each edge {i,j} the length of the segment between
x_i and x_j and is exactly, or approximately, the given distance d_ij.
By "length of segment" we mean the Euclidean norm, but there are
applications that call for the use of other norms. Related fields
include embeddings of metric spaces with some distortion, the restricted
isometry property, Erdos' distances problem.

The DAM special issue is especially suitable to papers with elements of
combinatorics, or purely theoretical papers. The JOGO special issue is
more suitable to papers in nonlinear optimization, particularly if they
involve many (or mainly) continuous decision variables, and if they have
a computational section. These are only guidelines, as JOGO has some
purely theoretical papers stemming from combinatorial optimization, and
DAM has some papers on (essentially) continuous optimization with lots
of computational experiments. Both are excellent journals in their
respective fields. JOGO's impact factor is higher than DAM's, but DAM is
more established in the mathematical community.

The submission deadline is 31st December 2016, but we are ready to make
(some) concessions if you need (some) more time. Submissions are made
through the respective web editorial managers:
- DAM (Elsevier): <http://ees.elsevier.com/dam>
- JOGO (Springer): <http://www.editorialmanager.com/jogo>
In both systems, one of the first screens after specifying the title
asks you for "paper type". This is where you MUST click on the "DGTA16
special issue" (or similar label), since otherwise the paper will go
directly to the Editor-in-Chief rather than to our issue. The refereeing
process will involve at least two referees per paper. You do not need to
specify a list of possible referees. As soon as a submission comes in,
it will be handled. So if your paper is ready, submit it now rather than
close to deadline! For transparency: submissions co-authored by one of
the guest co-editors will be handled by the Editors-in-Chief of the
target journal, and the process will be completely hidden from the guest
editorial board.

Feel free to get in touch with any of us if you want to ask us for
advice on your submission. In general, a heads up about a paper you want
to submit to these issues is welcome!

Farid Alizadeh
Douglas Goncalves
Nathan Krislock
Leo Liberti

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