FOREWORD
This issue of Revue Roumaine de Mathematiques Pures et Appliquees is dedicated to Professor Serban Stratila, on the occasion of his 70th birthday in June 2013, in appreciation for his many mathematical accomplishments in research, teaching and mentoring.
A graduate of the University of Bucharest, Serban was employed by the Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy (IMAR) in 1967. His Ph.D.
dissertation Central Spectral Theory in von Neumann Algebras, completed un- der the supervision of Professor Nicolae Dinculeanu, was defended in 1973.
Serban became Principal Researcher at IMAR in 1991 and Professor in the Analysis Chair of the Department of Mathematics of the University of Bucharest in 1997. His research interests lie broadly in the mathematical eld of Operator Algebras. Serban's signicant accomplishments are in ab- stract harmonic analysis, von Neumann algebras, crossed products and duality, and AF algebras and the unitary group U(∞). He published four books that became well-known to researchers in the eld worldwide: Representations of AF-Algebras and the Group U(∞) (1975, co-author Dan-Virgil Voiculescu), Lectures on von Neumann Algebras (1979, co-author Laszlo Zsido), Modular Theory in Operator Algebras (1981), and Operator Algebras (1995, co-author Laszlo Zsido).
Research in Operator Algebras in Romania owes a lot to Serban, who played a central role in the creation and development of a Romanian school in this area. He was one of the founders and leading gures of the Operator Algebras Seminar at IMAR, initiated in 1968. In time, this seminar attracted a large number of students and young researchers, who later became established mathematicians at prestigious academic institutions in North America or Eu- rope. The high quality of Serban's classes taught at University of Bucharest since 1979 was inuential in the decision of many gifted students to become professional mathematicians.
Serban acted as one of the organizers of an important series of confer- ences in Operator Algebras, all well-attended by both world renowned and junior researchers in the eld: Neptun (1980), Busteni (1983), Craiova (1989), Constanta (2001), Sinaia (2003), Bucuresti (2005). Since 1988, Serban served as an editor of the prestigious Journal of Operator Theory, one of the major publications in the eld of Functional Analysis. During 19842012 he was also a member of the editorial committee of Revue Roumaine de Mathematiques Pures et Appliquees.
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The papers published in this volume are written by friends or former students of Serban, who have been glad to celebrate this special opportunity.
We are grateful to all authors for their contributions. Together, we wish Serban a long and productive continuation of his activity.
Florin P. BOCA and Dan TIMOTIN