An introduction to the mathematical theory of multistage decision processes, this text takes a "functional equation" approach to the discovery of optimum policies. The text examines existence and uniqueness theorems, the optimal inventory equation, bottleneck problems in multistage production processes, a new formalism in the calculus of variation, multistage games, and more

Homicide was the third leading cause of occupational injury death in the U.S. for the period from 1980 through 1985, accounting for nearly 13% of the nation's total deaths from trauma in the workplace. Homicide was the manner of death for 12% if the men and 42% of the women who died from injuries sustained in U.S. workplaces during the 6-year period for which data were available at the time of the workshop.

I would like to thank Gordon Wardlaw for reading and giving feedback on every chapter, and Elizabeth Joseph for a great deal of assistance with the reference aspects of the book preparation. I would also like to thank Emily Dy for help with references in the chapter on iron. In addition, I appreciate the help of ach of the following for comments on individual subjects: Michael Bergeron, Priscilla Clarkson, Steve Abrams, Connie Weaver, Greg Miller, and Greg Wiet. I also appreciate my wife, Janet, and children, David, Daniel, and Lisa, for allowing me the enormous amount of time it took to complete this writing. Finally, I want to express great appreciation to Stacey Bell for having the original concept for the book and helping me get it off the ground. I endeavored to present the issues in this book as honestly as I could, without trying to make any product supplier look better or worse than reality dictated. Even so, I do want to note the companies that have supported parts of my own mineral research: Albion Laboratories, Nutrition21, Glanbia, and Purac of America.