Proceedings of the 9th Computational Techniques and Applications Conference

Abstract

This Special Issue of the Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society, Series B (electronic) contains the refereed papers from the Ninth Biennial Computation Techniques and Applications Conference (CTAC99) held at the Australian National University, Canberra, during 20-22 September 1999. This proceedings is dedicated to Professor John Noye of the University of Adelaide as a mark of respect for his endeavours in support of the CTAC series of conferences over the past twenty years. He has been a prime mover not only as an organiser and editor of the proceedings, but also as a prolific contributor.

The CTAC series of conferences is held under the auspices of the Computational Mathematics Group of the Australian and New Zealand Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ANZIAM) division of the Australian Mathematics Society. They provide a forum for scientists, engineers, and mathematicians interested in the development of computational techniques and their application to problems of practical importance. Previous conferences in the CTAC series have been held at University of Sydney (1983), University of Melbourne (1985), University of Sydney (1987), Griffith University, Brisbane (1989), University of Adelaide (1991), Australian National University, Canberra (1993), Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne (1995), University of Adelaide (1997).

There were nearly 140 participants at the conference, six of whom gave keynote addresses as part of the general program for CTAC99-these speakers and the titles of their presentations were:

Computational Challenges in Data Mining

Markus Hegland, Australian National University;

Numerical Methods in Inverse Obstacle Scattering

Rainer Kress, University of Goettingen, Germany;

How Many Matrices Does it Take to Keep a 777 Flying?

John Lewis, Boeing Corp., U.S.A.;

Computational Biology

Terry Speed, University of California, Berkeley & University of Melbourne;

Evolutionary Structural Optimisation

Grant Steven, University of Sydney;

Numerical Problems in Optimisation and Approximation

Alistair Watson, University of Dundee, Scotland.

CTAC99 also included a Public Lecture, delivered at the Australian Academy of Sciences:

High Performance Computing and Trends

Jack Dongarra, University of Tennessee & Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S.A.

In addition to these seven invited presentations, another 100 contributed papers were presented at the conference. Of these 100 papers, 87 were submitted for consideration for the CTAC99 Proceedings, and 71 were accepted for publication after each was peer-reviewed by at least two referees. Following the convention established in previous CTAC proceedings, the papers appearing here have not been grouped by topic; the contributed papers appear in alphabetical order of the first author, preceded by invited papers. As this Proceedings has been dedicated to Professor John Noye, included as an introduction is a brief history of his considerable involvement in the CTAC series of conferences and the bibliography of his contributions - many coauthored with colleagues and students.

As with previous CTAC Proceedings, the papers cover a wide variety of topics with the usual CTAC emphasis on both industrial applications and numerical techniques. A new feature is the relatively large number of papers addressing a contemporary field of interest, Data-Mining. This was the topic of one of the four full-day workshops which immediately followed the conference, the others being High Performance Computing, Advances in Differential Equations, and Scientific Visualisation and Virtual Environments. Participation levels in the workshops were substantial with each attacting 30-50 attendees. These workshop themes are reflected in many of the papers included in this Proceedings.

The editors would like to thank the referees for their time and assistance with the refereeing process, and the Journal of the Australian Mathematics Society, Series B (electronic) for agreeing to publish the proceedings as a journal special issue. Also, we the (primary) editors wish to acknowledge the additional time and effort put in by the other members of the Editorial Committee: Bob Anderssen, Henry Gardner, Markus Hegland, Mike Osborne, and Steve Roberts. David Harrar II and Thanh Tran
Centre for Mathematics and its Applications
Australian National University
June 2000

CTAC99 Organising Committee

Director

PROFESSOR MIKE OSBORNE, Centre for Mathematics and its Applications, ANU

Associate Director

DR. BOB GINGOLD, ANU Supercomputer Facility, ANU

Treasurer

DR. STEVE ROBERTS, School of Mathematical Sciences, ANU

Secretary (Organisation)

DR. DAVID HARRAR II, Centre for Mathematics and its Applications, ANU

Secretary (Administration)

DR. THANH TRAN, Centre for Mathematics and its Applications, ANU

Committee

• DR. BOB ANDERSSEN, Centre for Mathematics and Information Sciences, CSIRO
• DR. HENRY GARDNER, Research School of Physical Sciences, ANU
• DR. MARKUS HEGLAND, ACSys, Computer Sciences Laboratory, ANU
• DR. LUTZ GROSZ, Centre for Mathematics and its Applications, ANU