In a remarkably short time, the field of inequality problems has seen considerable development in mathematics and theoretical mechanics. Applied mechanics and the engineering sciences have also benefitted from these developments in that open problems have been treated and entirely new classes of problems have been formulated and solved. This book is an outgrowth of seven years of seminars and courses on inequality problems in mechanics for a variety of audiences in the Technical University of Aachen, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the University of Hamburg and the Technical University of Milan. The book is intended for a variety of readers, mathematicians and engineers alike, as is detailed in the Guidelines for the Reader. It goes without saying that the work of G. Fichera, J. L. Lions, G. Maier, J. J. Moreau in originating and developing the theory of inequality problems has considerably influenced the present book. I also wish to acknowledge the helpful comments received from C. Bisbos, J. Haslinger, B. Kawohl, H. Matthies, H. O. May, D. Talaslidis and B. Werner. Credit is also due to G. Kyriakopoulos and T. Mandopoulou for their exceptionally diligent work in the preparation of the fmal figures. Many thanks are also due to T. Finnegan and J. Gateley for their friendly assistance from the linguistic standpoint. I would also like to thank my editors in Birkhiiuser Verlag for their cooperation, and all those who helped in the preparation of the manuscript.
