Subject: NA-NET distribution message

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 89 19:57:54 PDT

NA Digest   Sunday, July 30, 1989   Volume 89 : Issue 29

Today's Editor: Cleve Moler

Today's Topics:

     Positions in Lausanne
     New Yorker Articles on Radiation Recommended
     Multigrid Routine in NAG 
     IBM Supercomputing Contest
     Human Rights Violations -- China
     Courseware for Numerical Analysis
     CERFACS Enlarges Its Computing Base
     Golub/Van Loan, 2nd Edition 
     Comments on Dundee N.A. Meeting
     IMA Computational ODE Meeting
     Utah State Miniconference on Nonlinear Systems

-------------------------------------------------------

From: Philippe Caussignac <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 13:01:11 GMT
Subject: Positions in Lausanne

RESEARCH POSITIONS AT THE SWISS FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

The numerical analysis group of the Math. Dept of the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) is looking for two young
researchers to work on projects partly supported by grants.
One of these projects is in fluid dynamics (study of parabolized
Navier-Stokes equations applied to hypersonic viscous flow around
blunt bodies) and the other in MHD (numerical analysis of eddy
currents problems) . Both positions will be available at the beginning
of April 1990 and in principle for two years.
Successful candidates should have a thorough background in numerical
analysis and scientific computing and possibly a Ph.D . The research
will take place in small teams of three to four persons . There are
about 15 researchers in the numerical analysis group in the Math.
Dept. of the EPFL ; they have acccess to facilities like Silicon
Graphics workstations and Cray 2.
Lausanne is a very nice little town by the Lake of Geneva and the
mountains Alps are at one hour by car.
For application or questions, please contact :

 Ph. Caussignac            or       R.Touzani
 EPFL/DMA                           EPFL/DMA
 CH-1015 LAUSANNE                   CH-1015 LAUSANNE
 Switzerland                        Switzerland

 Phone : 41 21 693 25 78            Phone : 41 21 693 42 47

 Email : [email-masked]      Email : [email-masked]

------------------------------

From: George Byrne <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 14:55:54 EDT
Subject: New Yorker Articles on Radiation Recommended

The New Yorker Magazine had an article in three parts on electromagnetic
radiation, which may be of some interest to NA-NET readers/users.  The
articles appeared June 12, 19, and 26, 1989 beginning on pp. 51, 47, & 39,
respectively.  Of these, the third is perhaps of most interest to us,
since it suggests the possibility of cataracts (and other eye problems)
being induced by using VDTs (video display terminals).  As one who is
having serious eye problems, including cataracts, the article is of
substantial interest to me.  Elsewhere in this long series, it is suggested
that electric blankets can lead to problems, especially for pregnant
women.

The articles are not lightly written; but they may be important to us for
health reasons.

George Byrne

------------------------------

From: Wlodek Proskurowski <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 1989 12:53:44 PDT
Subject: Multigrid Routine in NAG 

Since I was approached last week at the SIAM Conference in San Diego to give
answers to my recent quiz, here they are for all to share:
Answers to the quiz on the NAG multigrid routine:
1. Accuracy
The exact solution has been chosen as u(x,y)=x^2+y^2.  As a consequence, the
central differences (second order accurate) give rise to a zero truncation
error in approximating the first order terms, while the one sided differences
(first order accurate) produce a substantial trucation error for large c, 
here c=100).  Of course, the 5-point stencil to approximate the Laplacian
also is second order accurate and does not contribute to the truncation 
error for this choice of u.
2. Convergence rate (simplified to 1-D case)
a. central differences.
Denote k=ch/2, where h is the step size h=1/n.  Then the difference operator,
matrix A has the form: A=tridiag(-1-k,2,-1+k) and its eigenvalues are
l_i(A)=4-2sqr(1-k^2)cos(iPh).  This spectrum shifts to the left and becomes 
complex with growing value of k, to the point where the relaxation scheme used 
in the multigrid altogether diverges.  With fixed c and h approaching to zero, 
the performance of the multigrid aproaches that for the Laplacian alone.
b. one-sided differences.
Denote k=ch.  
Then A=tri(-1-k,2+k,-1) and A=tri(-1,2-k,-1+k) for back- and forward schemes.
Eigenvalues are l_i=2+k+2sqr(1+k)cos(iPh) and l_i=2-k+2sqr(1-k)cos(iPh).
One of the schemes is converging nicely depending of the sign of c.

------------------------------

From: John Connolly <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 89 19:54:07 EDT
Subject: IBM Supercomputing Contest

                            CALL FOR PAPERS

                1989 IBM 3090 SUPERCOMPUTING COMPETITION

                    Cash Awards for Outstanding Work
                                   in
               Large Scale Computer Analysis and Modeling

                The IBM Corporation and IBM Canada Ltd.
                           are sponsoring the
                1989 IBM 3090 Supercomputing Competition

IBM  invites  authors  from  industry,  research  and academia to submit
papers in competition for major cash awards.   The competition  will  be
for First, Second and Third Prizes in each of four divisions:

The divisions are:

          1)  Physical Science and Mathematics
          2)  Engineering
          3)  Life and Health Sciences
          4)  Social Sciences, Humanities and Fine Arts

The prizes in each division are:

          First Prize  - $25,000 US
          Second Prize -  15,000 US
          Third Prize  -  10,000 US

An  additional  $10,000  will  be  awarded  to universities that provide
substantial assistance to 1st Prize papers.

All papers must describe analysis and modeling work done  using  an  IBM
3090 Supercomputer as the primary computational system.  Judging will be
by  panels of noted non-IBM experts in each division.  Winning and other
selected papers will be published in IBM's PROCEEDINGS:  1989  IBM  3090
Supercomputing Competition

To  enter the competition, authors must submit an abstract by October 2,
1989.  All necessary information is provided in the General  Information
Brochure  which  may be obtained from your local IBM Branch Office or by
contacting one of the Competition Administrators:

In the United States:
          IBM Corporation Dept 72/BNG
          44 S. Broadway
          White Plains, NY 10601-4495
          (914) 686-6318

In Canada:
          IBM Canada Ltd. Dept 2/645
          245 Consumers Road
          North York, Ontario M2J1S2
          (416) 758-4136

A preliminary abstract and registration must be postmarked by October 2,
1989.    Final  papers must be received by January 15, 1990.  Results of
the competition will be announced by March 1, 1990.

------------------------------

From: Ken Jackson <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 19:41:32 EDT
Subject: Human Rights Violations -- China

As chairman of the SIAM Committee on the Human Rights of Mathematical
Scientists, I just received a letter from Kari Hannibal, the Acting
Director of the Science and Human Rights Program of the Office of
Scientific Freedom and Responsibility (OFSR) of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), addressed to "Affiliates of the
OFSR Human Rights Program" asking for our help in documenting recent
human rights violations in China.  Let me quote from her letter:

     "As you are all keenly aware, the suppression of public dissent in
     China in June 1989 following weeks of peaceful demonstration for
     reform of government policies has resulted in hundreds of deaths,
     arrests of over 1,600 people, trials, and executions.  The OFSR
     Science and Human Rights Program is coordinating with several
     human rights organizations to obtain and confirm information on
     the situation of professionals and students within the scientific,
     medical and engineering communities who have experienced
     violations of their human rights."

     "We would like to ask your help in this documentation effort.  
     If you or your colleagues become aware of actions by the Chinese
     government which compromise the human rights of scientists,
     engineers, health professionals, or students in these fields,
     would you please forward the information to us.  We, in turn, will
     attempt to keep you as up to date as possible with new information
     as it comes to us ..."

     "For those of you working in education institutions, we would urge
     you to ask your respective universities to be flexible in their
     dealings with students who wish to stay for an additional year.
     We have been told that some students may now be arriving in North
     America with an incomplete set of certificates and test scores,
     having left China at the time of the demonstrations which
     coincided with the period of exams."

     "Finally, there have been some reports of harassment or
     surveillance of Chinese students studying in North America.  If
     you learn of such actions, would you please let us know?  Several
     human rights organizations are concerned about such actions and
     are collecting information on it."

Please forward any relevant information you have either to me or to
Kari Hannibal directly.  

Ms. Kari Hannibal,
Acting Director of the Science and Human Rights Program,
Office of Scientific Freedom and Responsibility,
American Association for the Advancement of Science,
1333 H Street, NW,
Washington, DC, 20005.
(Phone:  202-326-6792)
(Cable:  ADVANCESCI)

Prof. Kenneth R. Jackson,      [email-masked]   (on Internet, CSNet, 
Computer Science Dept.,                              ARPAnet, BITNET)
University of Toronto,         [email-masked]   (on CDNnet and other 
Toronto, Ontario,                                    X.400 nets (Europe))
Canada   M5S 1A4               ...!{uunet,pyramid,watmath,ubc-cs}!utai!krj
(Phone: 416-978-7075)                               (on UUCP)
(FAX: 416-978-4765)                                 

------------------------------

From: Robert Skeel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 11:32:04 -0500
Subject: Courseware for Numerical Analysis

In the July 23rd NA Digest Patrick Gaffney asks the question
"Why would anyone wish to use Mathematica for presenting a Numerical
Analysis course in preference say to MATLAB or to the new Kahaner,
Moler, Nash book?"

I do not know enough about either Mathematica or MATLAB to offer
advice to others.  However, I am qualified to answer the question
that is posed above because I have decided to try Mathematica
for the computational part of an intro course in numerical methods.

It gets tiring to have to learn and re-learn a multitude of different 
languages for performing various tasks on the  computer, so a single
system like Mathematica that offers numerics, symbolics, and graphics
is attractive.  I think it would appeal to the students to learn a
powerful system that is capable of doing a lot of things.  Certainly
most of our students do not like to use FORTRAN (and most of our faculty
do not like to teach FORTRAN).  Moreover, Mathematica may well
represent the future of mathematical computing (for most users).
One of the big unanswered questions is the extent to which symbolic math
would be useful in a n a course.  There are two ways in which
it might be useful:
(1)numerical computation can profit from greater use of analytical
knowledge,  and (2) written homework in n a involves a lot of tedious algebra.

Bob Skeel, DCS, U of Ill at U-C

------------------------------

From: Iain Duff <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 12:09:34 CDT
Subject: CERFACS Enlarges Its Computing Base

  I thought readers of the digest might be interested in a recent 
development at CERFACS, a European Centre for Research and Advanced Training
in Supercomputing.  The following announcement was issued last week by BBN,
who have recently announced an upgrade to their Butterfly multiprocessor
based on the new Motorola chip. Although this is essentially a shared memory
machine (single address space), it can benefit one to use it as a local
memory one since memory is distributed and there are noticeable delays if
a node is accessing data in the memory of another node.  Although CERFACS
does have a small project on an INTEL hypercube, this marks the Centre's
first main move towards distributed memory computing.
  If you require any further information on CERFACS please contact me.
Iain Duff
[email-masked]

BBN Sells New High-Performance RISC Computer
to European CERFACS

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 18, 1989 -- BBN Advanced Computers Inc. today
announced the sale of a 30-processor TC2000(TM) computer to the European
Centre for Research and Advanced Training in Scientific Computation
(CERFACS).

CERFACS, based in Toulouse, France, intends to use the TC2000 system for
such tasks as simulating and modeling complex aerospace design factors
(e.g., turbulence and wind sheer).

Incorporating Motorola's 88000 microprocessor, the BBN TC2000 system is
the first large-scale implementation of RISC (reduced instruction set
computing) technology.  The multiprocessing architecture allows
field-expansion from eight to 504 processors, with corresponding
increases in memory, memory-access bandwidth and I/O capabilities.

Four additional characteristics of the TC2000 system support rapid
program development and high-performance execution: 1) two concurrent
multiprocessor operating systems are available:  the nX(TM) operating
system supports general-purpose software development, at the same time
as multi-tasking execution takes place under the pSOS+m(TM) real-time
kernel.  (The nX system is based on UNIX(R)4.3BSD(TM), and the pSOS+m
kernel has been adapted from Software Components Group, Inc.); 2) all
processors can share memory over the third-generation Butterfly(R)
switch, at 38 MHz per processor; 3) a unique software-controlled
clustering option lets users designate processor groups to run programs
under either OS simultaneously; and 4) the TC2000 system offers the
Xtra(TM) programming environment, featuring the industries' only
integrated, graphical (X Window System(TM)), multiprocessing tools for
development and performance analysis.  "The TC2000 system is an
excellent platform for our applied research on multiprocessor computer
architectures," said Jean-Claude Ippolito, Director of CERFACS.  "It
incorporates high-performance RISC processors and also features advanced
software development tools that will improve our utilization of existing
software programs."

"This sale will be the first installation of the TC2000 system in
Europe," said Dave Micciche, BBN Advanced Computer's vice president of
sales, marketing and customer service.  "This is a significant  market
opportunity for our new system.  The CERFACS installation will allow
some of Europe's leading computational scientists and engineers to work
with the TC2000 computer, which incorporates several technological
innovations and represents the latest development in time-critical
computing."

CERFACS was created in October 1987 to combine research and training
activities in scientific computation for European researchers, engineers
and scientists.  The centre, comprised of industries, laboratories, and
universities, studies fundamental applications in such fields as
aeronautics, meteorology, the petroleum industry and hydrodynamics.

------------------------------

From: Gene Golub <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1989 11:00:15 PDT
Subject: Golub/Van Loan, 2nd Edition 

The new edition of Golub/Van Loan, "Matrix Computations" is now out. It
contains about 20% new material, mainly on parallel computation. We hope you
find the book of use and of interest. Hopefully, most of the bugs have been
eliminated but, of course, a few new ones have probably been introduced.
We thank those of you who helped us with the corrections of the first edition.

The cost of the paperback is about $US 30. (For some reason, there is
a 15% surcharge when it is sent to Europe.)  If you cannot easily
obtain it, you can send an order via FAX to Johns Hopkins Press (FAX
number: 301/338-6998). Please include your credit card number and its
expiration date. You should also include your postal address since the
cost of sending a copy of the book by FAX would be rather high.

Good reading!

Gene

------------------------------

From: George Byrne & Alan Hindmarsh <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 13:51:43 EDT
Subject: Comments on Dundee N.A. Meeting

                   The 13th Biennial Conference
                                on
                    Numerical Analysis, Dundee

                         George D. Byrne
        Computing and Telecommunications Systems Division
              Exxon Research and Engineering Company
                       Annandale, NJ  08801

                               and

                        Alan C. Hindmarsh
        Computing and Mathematics Research Division, L-316
              Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
                           P.O. Box 808
                       Livermore, CA  94550

     The  13th Biennial Conference on Numerical Analysis was held
at  the University of Dundee, Dundee Scotland, 27 - 30 June 1989.
To   our  knowledge  this   is  the   only  regularly  scheduled,
international, numerical analysis conference in the world.  There
were  about 200 participants, many of  whom took advantage of the
scheduling   of  this  conference  and   the  IMA  Conference  on
Computational  Ordinary  Differential  Equations  (London) during
successive  weeks.   (Please see our  article on  that conference
elsewhere in this issue of SIAM News.)

     Dundee  is a  colorful blend  of the old  and the  new.  For
example, in 1689 the Viscount Dundee raised the standard of James
VII  on Dundee  Law, the high  hill just  behind the headquarters
dormitory,  overlooking the Firth of  Tay.  More recently, Dundee
was a whaling town.   It is now a bustling city with (by American
standards)  old,  stone  buildings,  modern  shopping  malls, old
churches, a large university, the famous Firth of Tay bridge, and
a  very friendly, helpful  populace.  We  can think  of few other
places where a lone woman would guide an obviously bewildered man
to a shop!

     A  lasting memory will be a  walk up Dundee Law with a group
of  very amicable Canadians to watch  the beautiful sunset up the
Firth  of Tay.  The lights  of the villages sparkled below in the
cool, clean air.  The dark, Scotch hills formed a sharp, artistic
contrast to the sunset  and the serene Firth.  And this was at 11
PM (2300)!

     A  few of us took advantage  of the long-lighted evenings by
visiting  some of  the local pubs  to savor  the local  color and
products.   The  friendly patrons seemed  amused by  our array of
accents:  English, Australian, North American, New Zealander, and

                                1


2

several varieties of Continental European.

     It  is worth noting that there were several entire families
who  stayed in  the headquarters dormitory. It was a
pleasant  change to  see children  ranging in  age from toddlers,
through  pre-teens, teenagers, and university ages.  There seemed
to  be plenty to see  and to do in and  around Dundee.  The local
tourist  information office and the  meeting organizers were most
helpful.

     As  for  the dormitory  facilities, they  included community
pantries  for cooking or making tea and  coffee.  The common bath
facilities  were separated  for females and  males, and, like the
rest of  the dorm, neat and clean.  The Scotch breakfasts brought
back  memories  of  the table  groaning  breakfasts of  the rural
midwestern  U.S.   The  service was  outstanding,  courteous, and
carried out with good humor.

     The  Dundee Numerical  Analysis meetings are  among the best
organized  of any conference series, and  this last one was fully
up  to previous standards.   The organizers had rather thoroughly
planned  the registration procedures,  lodging arrangements, meal
service,  bus  transportation  between  residence  and conference
halls,  lecture room setups,  and numerous other  details.  There
was  even a cash bar set up in West Park Hall each evening.  Dave
Griffiths and Alistair Watson seemed to be ubiquitous in carrying
out the many necessary organizational tasks, and the staff people
were  very efficient in all  aspects of the  meeting.  The result
was  a very  smoothly operating meeting  with ample opportunities
for  both  formal  and  informal  discussions.    About  the only
obstacle  to good interactions that was  not under the control of
the  organizers was some intermittent jack hammering just outside
the second floor lecture room.

     The conference was organized around 16 invited talks, and 96
submitted  talks  in  groups  of either  three  or  four parallel
sessions. The invited speakers were:
     Mike Baines (U. Reading)
     Jim Bramble (Cornell U.)
     Kevin Burrage (U. Auckland)
     Tom Coleman (Cornell U.)
     Peter Deuflhard (Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum)
     Roger Fletcher (U. Dundee)
     Bengt Fornberg (Exxon Research & Engineering Co.)
     Ivan Graham (U. Bath)
     Nicholas Higham (Cornell U.)
     Claes Johnson (Chalmers Institute of Technology)
     Tom Lyche (U. Oslo)
     Mike Powell (U. Cambridge)
     Tom Russell (U. Colorado)
     Dan Sorensen (Argonne National Lab.)
     Alistair Spence (U. Bath), and
     Alistair Watson (U. Dundee)


                                                                3

As might be expected from this roster alone, the topics presented
were  wide-ranging.  Overall, the quality  of the talks was quite
high,  and the invited speakers did an excellent job of conveying
their  material to  an audience  with highly  varied backgrounds.
Several  areas  seem  to be  more  active than  others, including
moving  finite elements,  finite  element methods  for hyperbolic
problems,  Runge-Kutta  methods,  iterative  methods  for  linear
algebraic  systems,  and  analysis of  special  PDEs.   Classical
methods  in PDEs,  optimization, linear algebra,  and other areas
were also well represented.  There were several talks on parallel
methods,   and  a  few  on  applications.    Two  talks  included
entertaining  poetry as  well as  enlightenment:   Burrage's "The
Hunting  of  the  Snark"  (with  the  Lewis  Carroll  poem  in the
abstract),  and Butcher's slightly less authentic "By the Silvery
Tay."   Of  course, a meeting  like this  is as valuable  for the
opportunities  that it gives  to make informal  contacts as it is
for  the  formal  talks, perhaps  even  more so.      And private
discussions seemed to be going on throughout the conference.

     One unfortunate event during the conference was Professor
A. (Ron) Mitchell's suffering a heart attack.  Ron has success-
fully guided the confernces and helped to make them what they are
today.  We are pleased to report that he is recovering nicely.
We all wish him a speedy recovery and return to his low handicap
golf game.

     The conference banquet was "just lovely," as the Brits might
say.   John Mason  the after dinner  speaker, gave a speech laced
with  the sharp humor that some of  us associate with the British
Isles.    For example,  several  conference speakers  had plugged
their  forthcoming books, planned  conferences, and new journals.
John  deftly retaliated by announcing the new "Pacific Journal of
Slightly Applied Numerical Analysis."  One conference speaker had
also  mentioned  his  paper  "Stiff or  Not  Stiff,  That  is the
Question."   The mythical  co-author was H.  Amlet.  John pointed
out other possibilities:  F. Letcher, B Ramble,....  It was great
fun,  aided by a  copious supply of  good wine that accompanied a
dinner  of smoked  Scotch Salmon,  hearty Scotch  beef, marvelous
fellowship, and a beautiful setting.

     On  the last  day the  waitress captain  asked, "Will  ye be
comin' back?"  Aye.

------------------------------

From: George Byrne & Alan Hindmarsh <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 13:55:55 EDT
Subject: IMA Computational ODE Meeting

Here is a rewrite of the London SIAM article.  It includes revisions
suggested by Ian Gladwell, representing IMA.
 GDB

                        The IMA Conference
                                on
      Computational Ordinary Differential Equations, London

                         George D. Byrne
        Computing and Telecommunications Systems Division
              Exxon Research and Engineering Company
                       Annandale, NJ  08801

                               and

                        Alan C. Hindmarsh
        Computing and Mathematics Research Division, L-316
              Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
                           P.O. Box 808
                       Livermore, CA  94550

     The  IMA  (Institute  of Mathematics  and  its Applications)
Conference  on Computational  Ordinary Differential Equations was
held  at the Imperial College of  Science and Technology, London,
3-7 July 1989.  There were about 150 participants from around the
world.   In  fact, this meeting  seemed to  have an even stronger
international flavor than the Dundee Conference.  (Please see the
article on that conference elsewhere in this issue of SIAM News.)

     Imperial  College was established in 1907  and is located in
the South Kensington section of London.  Hyde Park and a dazzling
array  of museums are nearby.  The excellent tube (underground or
subway)  and bus  service provided easy  access to  Harrod's, the
theater  district, a gathering  of tall ships  on the Thames, and
the  famous sights of London.  Many of the participants, spouses,
and   children  took  advantage  of  these  opportunities.    The
Conference  tour  of  Hampton  Court  was  a  tour  de  force  in
architecture, art, and English gardens - and a welcome break from
the  lectures.   Ironically,  the 800th  anniversary of  the Lord
Mayoralty  of London was celebrated with a fireworks display over
the tall ships -- on 4 July, American Independence Day.

     London  has  much of  the flavor  of New  York City  - busy,
noisy, and crowded.  It also has stunning sights, quiet pubs, and
a rich  history.  There really are red (and other colored) double
decker  buses, the distinctive black taxis, blizzards of helmeted
motorcycle  couriers, and the pervasive  smell of Diesel exhaust.
The  people were  warm and kind  (unlike residents  of some other
major cities).  In what other great city would a taxi driver show
his  passenger the  route to the  airport on  a map, tell  of his
visit  to America,  and say  "The meter  says twenty-three sixty.
Pay  no mind to it.  I know you are short.   Just pay me what you
can."   Or hear  a barmaid speak with  the accent of the American
plains  in  a pub  called the  Plough?   London  is  an intrinsic

                                1


                                                                1

contradiction.   Or as  a logic professor  used to say,  "People,
people,  all, all universal  statements, including  this one, are
false."

     The  Conference  was  ably  organized by  Jeff  Cash, Roland
England,  Ian Gladwell, and Arieh Iserles.   In addition, a great
deal  of effort was spent by two IMA staff people--Yvonne May and
Pamela Irving, who were extremely pleasant and helpful throughout
the  meeting.  For a while, all  of the organizers were subjected
to  some grumbling over the level  of the registration fee, which
was  then reduced by 22%.  There  was also some confusion arising
from  communication problems among  the organizing committee, the
IMA  staff, and the university residence  staff; but all problems
seem to have resolved amicably and behind the scenes.

     The   conference  included  papers  on  both  initial  value
problems  (IVPs)  and boundary  value  problems (BVPs).    It was
organized  around 8  invited talks,  9 highlighted  talks, and 64
contributed   papers  (including  7   poster  papers),  with  the
contributed talks given in
groups of three parallel sessions.  The invited speakers were:

          John Butcher (U. Auckland)
          Herb Keller (Caltech)
          Bob O'Malley (Rensselaer)
          Linda Petzold (Lawrence Livermore)
          Rob Russell (Imperial College)
          Chuz Sanz-Serna (U. Valladolid)
          Larry Shampine (S.M.U.), and
          Marc Spijker (U. Leiden).

And the highlighted speakers were:

     U. Ascher (U. British Columbia)
     G. Bader (U. Heidelberg)
     G. D. Byrne (Exxon Research & Engg. Co.)
     G. F. Corliss (Marquette U.)
     U. Kirchgraber (ETH Zurich)
     J. F. B. M. Kraaijevangaer (U. Leiden)
     J. Lawson & M. Berzins (U. Leeds)
     B. J. Leimkuhler & O. Nevalinna (Helsinki U. of Technology)
     H. W. Tam (U. Illinois)

By  comparison to  earlier meetings  on numerical  ODEs, the most
striking  technical aspect of this meeting  was strong showing of
Runge-Kutta  methods, which were featured in 16 of the papers.  A
resurgence  of  interest  in RK  methods,  of  both  implicit and
explicit  types  and  both for  IVPs and  BVPs,  is related  to a
combination  of new results on nonlinear stability, opportunities
for  parallel implementations,  and new results  on their use for
differential-algebraic   equations  (DAEs).     Moreover,  modern
software  for symbolic manipulation and calculation makes much of
the research possible.

     In  numbers of papers, the topic  of applications, mainly to
PDE  (partial differential  equations) problems by  the method of
lines,  was a  close second to  RK, with  14 papers.  (Of course,
these categories overlap considerably.)  But it has been true for
a  long time that a major  motivation for work in methods for ODE
initial   value   problems  (at   least)  is   the   solution  of
time-dependent   PDEs.    Applications   to  circuit  models  and
mechanics  problems were addressed  more than  once, but probably
the  most exciting application talk was Zadunaisky's search for a
tenth  planet by  way of inverse  problems for  orbital ODEs.   A
fairly  new popular  topic was  that of  DAE methods,  which were
featured  in 9 papers, covering both new theoretical results, and


                                                                1

various  challenging application  problems.  The  search for good
parallel algorithms  for ODEs was the subject of 8 papers.  Other
recurring  themes  included general  linear (or  hybrid) methods,
dynamic    system   issues   (invariants,   periodicity,   etc.),
continuation  methods,  defect correction  schemes, new  types of
iterations  for initial value  problems, asymptotic analysis, and
interval methods.

     The  particular mix of  topics addressed at this conference,
together   with  the  expository   skills  of   the  invited  and
highlighted   speakers,  had  an   especially  strong  effect  in
encouraging  cross-topic  interaction.   Thus,  for  example, IVP
method  researchers were  able to get  some good  exposure to BVP
work  and vice versa; people doing traditional numerical analysis
were  comfortably  exposed  to some  non-traditional  topics like
interval  methods and Hamiltonian systems;  people whose work has
been  restricted to ODEs  learned a lot  about the very different
properties of DAEs  and methods for their solution; and so on.  A
conference  with a  narrower scope does  not have that advantage.
Oddly,     larger     conferences    often     discourage    such
cross-fertilization,  simply because the  size and breadth of the
list of  subject areas is too formidable.  As the conference came
to  a  close,  everyone  seemed  to  come  away  with  a  broader
familiarity  with the active topics in  computational ODEs, and a
greater  sense of personal familiarity with the people working in
this area, both through the formal presentations and through many
informal discussions and interactions.

     The  conference banquet followed a  sherry reception, a fine
custom  to  our  way of  thinking.   The  food was  excellent and
included an entree of steak pie.  By the way, the rumors that the
food  in the  United Kingdom is  poor and  the lager is  warm are
false!   The after dinner speaker  was Hans Stetter, whose speech
was  at  once  imaginative, humorous,  thought  provoking,  and a
beacon for younger researchers in ODEs.  Hans began by suggesting
that   observers   on  the   tenth  planet   might   wonder   why
numerical  analysts cluster and scatter quasi-periodically.  This
caused  us all to realize that our world is indeed small and that
the world of practicing numerical analysts is much smaller still.
He  used these thoughts to suggest that numerical analysts really
form  a family and that as  such we should help one another.  (He
said  nothing of sibling rivalry,  which is just  as well.)  Hans
suggested  that many  of us were  working in  ODEs because it was
comfortable for us to  do so.  He proposed that we should move on
to  the more challenging field of  PDEs .  Hans then talked about
liberty  and truth and how important they are  to us all; and the
persecution  of  those  who  seek these  ideals.    We  paused to
remember  those who suffered and are  suffering during the recent
Chinese uprising and its suppression.

     Hans  modestly suggested  that we gather  again next June in
Helsinki.   How  about your birthday  meeting next  year in Wien,
Hans?



                                                                1

     Yes,  the weather  was hot for  much of  the conference, the
dormitory facilities were somewhat spartan, but we would strongly
recommend  London and  an IMA conference  to our  colleagues.  We
also  strongly  recommend  the intellectual  stimulation  and the
better understanding of mankind and friendships that are fostered
by  international conferences  and travel   The  age of  the lone
mathematician  working in his attic,  encrypting his work is long
past.  Some of us need to realize this truth.

------------------------------

From: Homer Walker <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 08:39:02 MDT
Subject: Utah State Miniconference on Nonlinear Systems

MINICONFERENCE ON NEWTON-LIKE METHODS FOR LARGE-SCALE NONLINEAR SYSTEMS 

The Mathematics and Statistics Department at Utah State University, with 
support from the U.S. Department of Energy, is hosting a Miniconference 
on Newton-Like Methods for Large-Scale Nonlinear Systems. 

Dates: August 28-29, 1989. 

Location: Sherwood Hills Resort, in the Wellsville Mountains about 
20 miles from Logan, Utah. 

Confirmed invited participants at this time are  P. Brown, A. Griewank, 
C. T. Kelley, J. Meza, H. Mittelmann, S. Nash, A. Poore, and F. Potra. 

We are encouraging arrivals on Saturday, August 26, which will allow 
significant savings on airfare for many people. Sunday, August 27, 
will be a day of informal discussions and various recreational and 
social activities. 

For more information, contact Homer Walker, Mathematics and 
Statistics Department, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-3900, 
e-mail: [email-masked], [email-masked], or 
[email-masked]. 

------------------------------

End of NA Digest
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