It doesn't take a perfect storm to generate a rogue wave-an open-ocean wave much steeper and more massive than its neighbors that appears with little or no warning. Sometimes winds and currents collide causing waves to combine nonlinearly and produce these towering walls of water. Mathematicians and other researchers are collecting data from rogue waves and modeling them with partial differential equations to understand how and why they form. A deeper understanding of both their origins and their frequency will result in safer shipping and offshore platform operations. Since rogue waves are rare and short lived (fortunately), studying them is not easy. So some researchers are experimenting with light to create rogue waves in a different medium. Results of these experiments are consistent with sailors' claims that rogues, like other unusual events, are more frequent than what is predicted by standard models. The standard models had assumed a bell-shaped distribution for wave heights, and anticipated a rogue wave about once every 10,000 years. This purported extreme unlikelihood led designers and builders to not account for their potential catastrophic effects. Today's recognition of rogues as rare, but realistic, possibilities could save the shipping industry billions of dollars and hundreds of lives. For More Information: "Dashing Rogues", Sid Perkins, Science News, November 18, 2006.

A triple cork is a spinning jump in which the snowboarder is parallel to the ground three times while in the air. Such a jump had never been performed in a competition before 2011, which prompted ESPN.s Sport Science program to ask math professor Tim Chartier if it could be done under certain conditions. Originally doubtful, he and a recent math major graduate used differential equations, vector analysis, and calculus to discover that yes, a triple cork was indeed possible. A few days later, boarder Torstein Horgmo landed a successful triple cork at the X-Games (which presumably are named for everyone.s favorite variable). Snowboarding is not the only sport in which modern athletes and coaches seek answers from mathematics. Swimming and bobsledding research involves computational fluid dynamics to analyze fluid flow so as to decrease drag. Soccer and basketball analysts employ graph and network theory to chart passes and quantify team performance. And coaches in the NFL apply statistics and game theory to focus on the expected value of a play instead of sticking with the traditional Square root of 9 yards and a cloud of dust.

A triple cork is a spinning jump in which the snowboarder is parallel to the ground three times while in the air. Such a jump had never been performed in a competition before 2011, which prompted ESPN.s Sport Science program to ask math professor Tim Chartier if it could be done under certain conditions. Originally doubtful, he and a recent math major graduate used differential equations, vector analysis, and calculus to discover that yes, a triple cork was indeed possible. A few days later, boarder Torstein Horgmo landed a successful triple cork at the X-Games (which presumably are named for everyone.s favorite variable). Snowboarding is not the only sport in which modern athletes and coaches seek answers from mathematics. Swimming and bobsledding research involves computational fluid dynamics to analyze fluid flow so as to decrease drag. Soccer and basketball analysts employ graph and network theory to chart passes and quantify team performance. And coaches in the NFL apply statistics and game theory to focus on the expected value of a play instead of sticking with the traditional Square root of 9 yards and a cloud of dust.

Nothing can prevent a tsunami from happening they are enormously powerful events of nature. But in many cases networks of seismic detectors, sea-level monitors and deep ocean buoys can allow authorities to provide adequate warning to those at risk. Mathematical models constructed from partial differential equations use the generated data to determine estimates of the speed and magnitude of a tsunami and its arrival time on coastlines. These models may predict whether a trough or a crest will be the first to arrive on shore. In only about half the cases (not all) does the trough arrive first, making the water level recede dramatically before the onslaught of the crest. Mathematics also helps in the placement of detectors and monitors. Researchers use geometry and population data to find the best locations for the sensors that will alert the maximum number of people. Once equipment is in place, warning centers collect and process data from many seismic stations to determine if an earthquake is the type that will generate a dangerous tsunami. All that work must wait until an event occurs because it is currently very hard to predict earthquakes. People on coasts far from an earthquake-generated tsunami may have hours to take action, but for those closer it.s a matter of minutes. The crest of a tsunami wave can travel at 450 miles per hour in open water, so fast algorithms for solving partial differential equations are essential. For More Information: Surface Water Waves and Tsunamis, Walter Craig, Journal of Dynamics and Differential Equations, Vol. 18, no. 3 (2006), pp. 525-549.

Experts are adept at answering questions in their fields, but even the most knowledgeable authority can.t be expected to keep up with all the data generated today. Computers can handle data, but until now, they were inept at understanding questions posed in conversational language. Watson, the IBM computer that won the Jeopardy! Challenge, is an example of a computer that can answer questions using informal, nuanced, even pun-filled, phrases. Graph theory, formal logic, and statistics help create the algorithms used for answering questions in a timely manner.not at all elementary. Watson.s creators are working to create technology that can do much more than win a TV game show. Programmers are aiming for systems that will soon respond quickly with expert answers to real-world problems.from the fairly straightforward, such as providing technical support, to the more complex, such as responding to queries from doctors in search of the correct medical diagnosis. Most of the research involves computer science, but mathematics will help to expand applications to other industries and to scale down the size and cost of the hardware that makes up these modern question-answering systems. For More Information: Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything, Stephen Baker, 2011.

Mathematics contributes in many ways to the process of converting wind power into usable energy. Large-scale weather models are used to find suitable locations for wind farms, while more narrowly focused models incorporating interactions arising from factors such as wake effects and turbulence specify how to situate individual turbines within a farm. In addition, computational fluid dynamics describes air flow and drag around turbines. This helps determine the optimal shapes for the blades, both structurally and aerodynamically, to extract as much energy as possible, and keep noise levels and costs down. Mathematics also helps answer two fundamental questions about wind turbines. First, why three blades? Turbines with fewer blades extract less energy and are noisier (because the blades must turn faster). Those with more than three blades would capture more energy but only about three percent more, which doesn.t justify the increased cost. Second, what percentage of wind energy can a turbine extract? Calculus and laws of conservation provide the justification for Betz Law, which states that no wind turbine can capture more than 60% of the energy in the wind. Modern turbines generally gather 40-50%. So the answer to someone who touts a turbine that can capture 65% of wind energy is "All Betz" are off. For More Information: Wind Energy Explained: Theory, Design and Application, Manwell, McGowan, and Rogers, 2010.

Some of the simplest and most well-known curves parabolas and ellipses, which can be traced back to ancient Greece are also among the most useful. Parabolas have a reflective property that is employed in many of today.s solar power technologies. Mirrors with a parabolic shape reflect all entering light to a single point called the focus, where the solar power is converted into usable energy. Ellipses, which have two foci, have a similar reflecting property that is exploited in a medical procedure called lithotripsy. Patients with kidney stones and gallstones are positioned in a tank shaped like half an ellipse so that the stones are at one focus. Acoustic waves sent from the other focus concentrate all their energy on the stones, pulverizing them without surgery. Math can sometimes throw you a curve, but that.s not necessarily a bad thing. Parabolas and ellipses are curves called conic sections. Another curve in this category is the hyperbola, which may have the most profound application of all the nature of the universe. In plane geometry, points that are a given distance from a fixed point form a circle. In space, points that are a given spacetime distance from a fixed point form one branch of a hyperbola. This is not an arbitrary mandate but instead a natural conclusion from the equations that result when the principle of relativity is reconciled with our notions of distance and causality. And although a great deal of time has elapsed since the discovery of conic sections, they continue to reap benefits today. For More Information: Practical Conic Sections: The Geometric Properties of Ellipses, Parabolas and Hyperbolas, J. W. Downs, 2010.

Once a problem only in the developed world, obesity is now a worldwide epidemic. The overwhelming cause of the epidemic is a dramatic increase in the food supply and in food consumption not a surprise. Yet there are still many mysteries about weight change that can.t be answered either inside the lab, because of the impracticality of keeping people isolated for long periods of time, or outside, because of the unreliability of dietary diaries. Mathematical models based on differential equations can help overcome this roadblock and allow detailed analysis of the relationship between food intake, metabolism, and weight change. The models. predictions fit existing data and explain such things as why it is hard to keep weight off and why obese people are more susceptible to further weight gain. Researchers are also investigating why dieters often plateau after a few months and slowly regain weight. A possible explanation is that metabolism slows to match the drop in food consumed, but models representing food intake and energy expenditure as a dynamical system show that such a weight plateau doesn.t take effect until much later. The likely culprit is a combination of slower metabolism and a lack of adherence to the diet. Most people are in approximate steady state, so that long-term changes are necessary to gain or lose weight. The good news is that each (enduring) drop of 10 calories a day translates into one pound of weight loss over three years, with about half the loss occurring in the first year. For More Information: Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight, Hall et al. Lancet, Vol. 378 (2011), pp. 826-837.

Cutters of diamonds and other gemstones have a high-pressure job with conflicting demands: Flaws must be removed from rough stones to maximize brilliance but done so in a way that yields the greatest weight possible. Because diamonds are often cut to a standard shape, cutting them is far less complex than cutting other gemstones, such as rubies or sapphires, which can have hundreds of different shapes. By coupling geometry and multivariable calculus with optimization techniques, mathematicians have been able to devise algorithms that automatically generate precise cutting plans that maximize brilliance and yield. The goal is to find the final shape within a rough stone. There are an endless number of candidates, positions, and orientations, so finding the shape amounts to a maximization problem with a large number of variables subject to an infinite number of constraints, a technique called semi-infinite optimization. Experienced human cutters create finished gems that average about 1/3 of the weight of the original rough stone. Cutting with this automated algorithm improved the yield to well above 40%, which, given the value of the stones, is a tremendous improvement. Without a doubt, semi-infinite optimization is a girl.s (or boy.s) best friend.

No one can predict who will commit a crime but in some cities math is helping detect areas where crimes have the greatest chance of occurring. Police then increase patrols in these "hot spots" in order to prevent crime. This innovative practice, called predictive policing, is based on large amounts of data collected from previous crimes, but it involves more than just maps and push pins. Predictive policing identifies hot spots by using algorithms similar to those used to predict aftershocks after major earthquakes. Just as aftershocks are more likely near a recent earthquake.s epicenter, so too are crimes, as criminals do indeed return to, or very close to, the scene of a crime. Cities employing this approach have seen crime rates drop and studies are underway to measure predictive policing.s part in that drop. One fact that has been determined concerns the nature of hot spots. Researchers using partial differential equations and bifurcation theory have discovered two types of hot spots, which respond quite differently to increased patrols. One type will shift to another area of the city while the other will disappear entirely. Unfortunately the two appear the same on the surface, so mathematicians and others are working to help police find ways to differentiate between the two so as to best allocate their resources.

It may be hard to accept but it.s likely that we.d all be much safer in autonomous vehicles driven by computers, not humans. Annually more than 30,000 Americans die in car crashes, almost all due to human error. Autonomous vehicles will communicate position and speed to each other and avoid potential collisions-without the possibility of dozing off or road rage. There are still many legal (and insurance) issues to resolve, but researchers who are revving up the development of autonomous vehicles are relying on geometry for recognizing and tracking objects, probability to assess risk, and logic to prove that systems will perform as required. The advent of autonomous vehicles will bring in new systems to manage traffic as well, for example, at automated intersections. Cars will communicate to intersection-managing computers and secure reservations to pass through. In a matter of milliseconds, the computers will use trigonometry and differential equations to simulate vehicles. paths through the intersection and grant entry as long as there is no conflict with other vehicles. paths. Waiting won.t be completely eliminated but will be substantially reduced, as will the fuel--and patience--currently wasted. Although the intersection at the left might look wild, experiments indicate that because vehicles would follow precise paths, such intersections will be much safer and more efficient than the ones we drive through now.

Imagine trying to describe the circulation and temperatures across the vast expanse of our oceans. Good models of our oceans not only benefit fishermen on our coasts but farmers inland as well. Until recently, there were neither adequate tools nor enough data to construct models. Now with new data and new mathematics, short-range climate forecasting for example, of an upcoming El Nino is possible.There is still much work to be done in long-term climate forecasting, however, and we only barely understand the oceans. Existing equations describe ocean dynamics, but solutions to the equations are currently out of reach. No computer can accommodate the data required to approximate a good solution to these equations. Researchers therefore make simplifying assumptions in order to solve the equations. New data are used to test the accuracy of models derived from these assumptions. This research is essential because we cannot understand our climate until we understand the oceans. For More Information: What.s Happening in the Mathematical Sciences, Vol 1, Barry Cipra.

James Sethian and Frank Morgan talk about their research investigating bubbles.

Muthu Alagappan explains how topology and analytics are bringing a new look to basketball.

Van Wedeen talks about the geometry of the brain's communication pathways.

Michael Trick talks about creating schedules for leagues.

Colin Adams talks about knot theory

Lydia Bourouiba talks about surface tension and the transmission of disease

Researcher: Michael C. Ferris, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Moment Title: Providing Power Description: Michael C. Ferris talks about power grids

Edward Witten talks about math and physics.

Researcher: Christopher Butson, Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, University of Utah. Christopher Butson talks about work he's done to help treat Parkinson's disease.

Researcher: Meredith Greer, Bates College. Going Over the Top Description: Meredith Greer talks about math and roller coasters.

Researcher: Sidney Redner, Santa Fe Institute
Moment: Moment Title: Holding the Lead Description: Sidney Redner talks about how random walks relate to leads in basketball.

Researcher: Norbert Stoop, MIT
Title: Adding a New Wrinkle
Description: Norbert Stoop talks about new research on the formation of wrinkles.

Researcher: Wesley Pegden, Carnegie Mellon University
Moment Title: Piling On and on and on!
Description: Wesley Pegden talks about simulating sandpiles

Researcher: Cristina Stoica, Wilfrid Laurier University
Description: Cristina Stoica talks about celestial mechanics.

Researcher: Thomas Snitch, University of Maryland
Description: Thomas Snitch talks about nabbing poachers with math.
Audio files: podcast-mom-poaching-1.mp3 and podcast-mom-poaching-2.mp3

Researcher: Andrew Beveridge, Macalester College
Moment Title: Dis-playing the Game of Thrones
Description: Andrew Beveridge uses math to analyze Game of Thrones.

Researcher: John A. Adam, Old Dominion University. John A. Adam explains the math and physics behind rainbows.

Researcher: Annalisa Crannell, Franklin & Marshall College. Annalisa Crannell on perspective in art.

Researcher: Konstantin Batygin, Caltech
Description: Konstantin Batygin talks about using math to investigate the existence of Planet Nine.

Researcher: Andy Andres, Boston University Moment: http://www.ams.org/samplings/mathmoments/mm136-baseball.pdf Andy Andres on baseball analytics.

Researcher: Stefan Siegmund, TU-Dresden Moment: http://www.ams.org/samplings/mathmoments/mm137-hurricane.pdf Description: Stefan Siegmund talks about his an invention to protect homes during hurricanes.

Researcher: Derek Moulton, University of Oxford Moment: http://www.ams.org/samplings/mathmoments/mm138-shells.pdf Description: Derek Moulton explains the math behind the shapes of seashells.

Researchers: Christopher Brinton, Zoomi, Inc. and Princeton University, and Mung Chiang, Purdue University Moment: http://www.ams.org/samplings/mathmoments/mm139-netflix.pdf Description: Christopher Brinton and Mung Chiang talk about the Netflix Prize competition.

Researcher: Jordan Hashemi, Duke University Description: Jordan Hashemi talks about an easy-to-use app to screen for autism.

Steven Strogatz and Mary Bushman talk about math's role in controlling HIV and understanding malaria, respectively. Mary Bushman says, "It's really cool to try and use math to nail down some questions that have gone unanswered for a really long time."

Fumie Tazaki talks about creating the first image of a black hole and its shadow, which relied on Fourier transforms. About the work to make the image, she says, "Our collaboration has 200 members and we did it with all of our efforts."

euromicron AG, a medium-sized technology group and specialist for networking business and production processes, has taken on Funkwerk AG, Kölleda, as a strategic anchor investor. Funkwerk AG is a leading provider of innovative communication, information and security systems and intends to acquire a total of up to around 28% of euromicron AG’s increased share capital following the implementation of the resolved capital measures.

Dear Shareholders, As Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board, I am contacting you personally today in advance of the Annual General Meeting to ask for your continued trust and support.