This volume of research papers comprises the proceedings of the first
International Conference on Mathematics of Neural Networks and
Applications (MANNA), which was held at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from
July 3rd to 7th, 1995 and attended by 116 people. The meeting was
strongly supported and, in addition to a stimulating academic programme,
it featured a delightful venue, excellent food and accommo- dation, a
full social programme and fine weather - all of which made for a very
enjoyable week. This was the first meeting with this title and it was
run under the auspices of the Universities of Huddersfield and Brighton,
with sponsorship from the US Air Force (European Office of Aerospace
Research and Development) and the London Math- ematical Society. This
enabled a very interesting and wide-ranging conference pro- gramme to be
offered. We sincerely thank all these organisations, USAF-EOARD, LMS,
and Universities of Huddersfield and Brighton for their invaluable
support. The conference organisers were John Mason (Huddersfield) and
Steve Ellacott (Brighton), supported by a programme committee consisting
of Nigel Allinson (UMIST), Norman Biggs (London School of Economics),
Chris Bishop (Aston), David Lowe (Aston), Patrick Parks (Oxford), John
Taylor (King's College, Lon- don) and Kevin Warwick (Reading). The local
organiser from Huddersfield was Ros Hawkins, who took responsibility for
much of the administration with great efficiency and energy. The Lady
Margaret Hall organisation was led by their bursar, Jeanette Griffiths,
who ensured that the week was very smoothly run.