Vector Variational Inequalities and Vector Equilibria : Springer : 9781461379850 : 1461379857 : 17 Sep 2011 : In the fifties and sixties, several real problems, old and new, especially in Physics, Mechanics, Fluidodynamics, Structural Engi­ neering, have shown the need of new mathematical models for study­ ing the equilibrium of a system. This has led to the formulation of Variational Inequalities (by G. Stampacchia), and to the develop­ ment of Complementarity Systems (by W.S. Dorn, G.B. Dantzig, R.W. Cottle, O.L. Mangasarian et al.) with important applications in the elasto-plastic field (initiated by G. Maier). The great advan­ tage of these models is that the equilibrium is not necessarily the extremum of functional, like energy, so that no such functional must be supposed to exist. In the same decades, in some fields like Control Theory, Net­ works, Industrial Systems, Logistics, Management Science, there has been a strong request of mathmatical models for optimizing situa­ tions