The NATO Advanced Research Institute on Search Theory and Appli­ cations was held at the Hotel Algarve in Praia Da Rocha, Portugal, from March 26 through March 30, 1979, and was sponsored by the NATO Special Programme Panel on Systems Science. There were forty-one participants representing a wide range of backgrounds and interests. The purpose of the institute was to bring together people working in search theory and applications with potential users of search techniques to stimulate the increased application of recent­ ly developed search technology to civilian problems such as search and rescue, mineral exploration, surveillance, and fishing. Con­ versely, it was felt that by exposing search analysts to potential applications and new problems, they would be stimulated to develop new techniques for these applications and problems. The exchange of ideas and problems necessary to accomplish these goals was provided in the meeting workshops. There were three workshops, Search and Rescue, Exploration, and Surveillance and Fishing, each consisting of a small group of search analysts and potential users working together to define areas in which search theory and technology can be applied and to outline plans for im­ plementation. At the end of the conference, each working group submitted a report outlining possible areas of search applications and discussing problems which needed to be solved in order to im­ plement these applications.

I. Introductory Papers.- Brief Overview of Search Theory and Applications.- General Operation of Search.- An Overview of Computer-Assisted Search Information Processing.- II. Applications.- 1. Search and Rescue.- Search and Rescue Working Group Report.- Search and Rescue in Canada.- Overland Search for Missing Aircraft and Persons.- Establishing Search Priorities.- 2. Surveillance.- Surveillance Working Group.- Surveillance and Search Theory.- Computer Simulation of Search Tactics for Magnetic Anomaly Detection.- On the Optimization of a Search Pattern for Maritime Surveillance.- 3. Exploration.- Exploration Working Group Report.- Introductory Comments on Exploration and Search Theory.- Exploration for Coal in the U.K.- Exploration for Polymetallic Nodules.- The Search for Nodules.- Search Theory in the Exploration for and Mining of Polymetallic Nodules on the Ocean Floor.- 4. Medicine.- An Application of Search Theory in Medicine: The Detection of Glaucoma.- 5. Industry.- Industrial Applications of Search Theory.- 6. Clearance.- The Search for COSMOS-954.- III. Theory.- 1. Search for Moving Targets.- Optimal Search f or a Moving Target in Discrete Time and Space with an Exponential Detection Function.- Search for a Moving Target: Upper Bound on Detection Probability.- Optimization Algorithm for General Target Motion.- Experience With a Branch-and-Bound Algorithm for Constrained Searcher Motion.- 2. Search for Stationary Targets.- Optimal Stopping of the Investigation Search.- A Solution for the Optimal Multiple Rectangle Search.- Participants.