E-LETTER on Systems, Control, and Signal Processing

ISSUE No. 107, July 1, 1997



      E-LETTER on Systems, Control, and Signal Processing
                 ISSUE No. 107,  July 1, 1997


E-mail:    eletter-request@win.tue.nl

Editors:   Anton A. Stoorvogel
           Dept. of Mathematics & Computing Science
           Eindhoven University of Technology
           P.O. Box 513
           5600 MB Eindhoven
           the Netherlands
           Fax     +31 40 246 5995

           Siep Weiland
           Dept. of Electrical Engineering
           Eindhoven University of Technology
           P.O. Box 513
           5600 MB Eindhoven
           the Netherlands
           Fax     +31 40 243 4582


Contents

1.      Editorial

2.      Personals

3.      General announcements
        3.1  New release SDPpack
        3.2  Aspiring Writers Invited to Enter SIAM Contest
        3.3  First release the polynomial toolbox

4.      Positions
        4.1  Postdoctoral position in control, San Diego
        4.2  Faculty positions EE Dept., University of Chile
        4.3  Ph.D. studentships in control and optimization, London

5.      Books
        5.1  "Chain-Scattering Approach to H-infinity Control", H. Kimura
        5.2  "Stochastic Approximation Algorithms and Applications", H.J.
              Kushner and G. George Yin

6.      Journals
        6.1  ELA special issues honoring Hans Schneider
        6.2  TOC JMSEC 7:3
        6.3  TOC special issue of Avtomatica i Telemechanica, 58:7
        6.4  TOC Control Engineering Practice, 5:6
        6.5  TOC IJC, 67:4

7.      Conferences
        7.1  CFP WODES'98, Cagliari, Italy
        7.2  CFP 12th Brazilean Automatic Control Conference
        7.3  CFP 6th CSAPC '97, Baveno, Italy.
        7.4  CFP 5th Symp. on Low Cost Automation, Shenyang
        7.5  Announcing conference dedicated to the 90th Anniversary
             of Pontryagin, Moscow
        7.6  Website for SIAM Conference on Applied Linear Algebra
        7.7  CFP 1998 IEEE Conf. on Control Applications, Trieste
        7.8  CFP Workshop in honor of Prof. Fuhrmann, Kaiserslautern
        7.9  CFP IFAC Conference on system structure and control

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              *              Editorial                 *
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              *              Personals                 *
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*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Tongwen Chen

In May 1997 I moved from University of Calgary to University of Alberta. My
new coordinates are:

Tongwen Chen
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada  T6G 2G7
Tel: (403) 492-3940;  Fax: (403) 492-1811
Email: tchen@ee.ualberta.ca
http://www.ee.ualberta.ca/~tchen

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Mayuresh V. Kothare 

                       Address Change

Effective July 1, 1997, my address will be

                Mayuresh V. Kothare
                Core Technology Department
                Modeling and Advanced Control Group
                Mobil Technology Company
                P.O.Box 480, Paulsboro
                New Jersey 08066-0480
                U.S.A.

Effective July 1, 1998, my address will be

               Mayuresh V. Kothare
               Assistant Professor
               Dept. of Chemical Engineering
               Lehigh University
               D311 Iacocca Hall, 111 Research Drive
               Bethlehem, PA 18015-4732
               U.S.A.


*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Sean P. Meyn

                      ADDRESS CHANGE:

For eight months beginning July 15 my address is:

Sean Meyn
Dept of Computer Science        Fax  : +91 - 80 - 334 1683
and Automation                  Telex: 0845-8349 IISC IN
Indian Institute of Science     www  :http://black.csl.uiuc.edu:80/~meyn
Bangalore -- 560 012, India     Email: s-meyn@uiuc.edu



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              *                                        *
              *        General announcements           *
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*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Madhu V. Nayakkankuppam

We would like to announce a new version of our code
SDPpack (Version 0.9 Beta for Matlab 5.0). This version
extends the previous release for semidefinite programming (SDP)
to mixed semidefinite-quadratic-linear programs (SQLP), i.e.
linear optimization problems over a product of semidefinite cones,
quadratic cones and the nonnegative orthant.

The code and documentation is available at the URL:

http://cs.nyu.edu/cs/faculty/overton/sdppack/sdppack.html

Farid Alizadeh (Rutgers)
Jean-Pierre A. Haeberly (Fordham)
Madhu V. Nayakkankuppam (NYU)
Michael L. Overton (NYU)
Stefan Schmieta (Rutgers)

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Carol Mehne

           Aspiring Writers Invited to Enter SIAM Contest


If a mathematician can win a nation-wide short story contest---in The New
York Times Magazine---isn't it reasonable to think that more than a few SIAM
News readers would be capable of writing interesting, lively, accessible
articles about mathematics? On the assumption that they would, SIAM has
decided to hold its own contest:  Readers are invited to submit articles
describing work in applied or computational mathematics for publication in
SIAM News. The subject can be any important, innovative application of
mathematics. The articles should be no longer than 2500 words, and they
should be written at the level of the articles on technical subjects that
now appear in SIAM News, i.e., they should be understandable to the entire
applied and computational mathematics community.  The best article submitted
will be published in SIAM News, and its author will receive an award of
$1000. Keeping the mathematics community up to date on new developments in
areas that may not now be covered in SIAM News will be an obvious benefit,
says Joyce  McLaughlin, chair of the SIAM Board of Trustees, but "we're also
holding the contest to encourage people to learn to communicate about
developments in mathematics in nontechnical terms." Ultimately, she continues,
"we want to generate materials that will demonstrate the contributions of
mathematics to a wide range of nonmathematicians," including officials in
Washington, mid- and upper-level managers in industry, students at all levels,
and scientifically inclined members of the general population. Any interested
nonprofessional writer is eligible for the contest. Entries should be directed
to the editor of SIAM News (siamnews@siam.org); the deadline for receipt of
submissions is September 12, 1997. Additional information, including
guidelines for the preparation of articles, can be obtained from the SIAM
News editor. As to the virtuoso short story writer mentioned earlier, he's
Robert L. Phillips, an applied mathematician (and SIAM member) who has been
employed at Decision Focus Inc., in Mountain View, California, since 1977.
Laid up after knee surgery when he read about the Times contest, in which
readers were invited to complete a short story begun by the fiction writer
Nicholson Baker, Phillips had an idea, wrote it up, and sent it in, not
imagining that he would win. His winning conclusion, which appeared in the
magazine on August 18, 1996, was assessed by the judge of the 2000 entries
as the "most faithful to Baker's blend of weird science and wit."
Phillips, whose weird science featured an ingenious twist on the secretion of
trichogenic ooze by Baker's cave-dwelling oysteroids, says that recent career
twists have put a crimp in both his writing and mathematical careers. Named
president and CEO of DFI in September 1996, he "still thinks like an applied
mathematician" but has less time to work on the airline scheduling and other
transportation problems in which he had specialized. Nonetheless, he admits
to a tendency "to bug the people who are doing the mathematics" and asked
some pretty thoughtful questions about the SIAM article contest....

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by Huibert Kwakernaak

             Just released: The POLYNOMIAL TOOLBOX

   A MATLAB(tm) toolbox for polynomials, polynomial matrices
    and their applications in control and signal processing


The POLYNOMIAL TOOLBOX is a package of m-files for MATLAB(tm) that
is used to perform computations with and on polynomial matrices.
It allows

* to define polynomial matrices
* to display and plot polynomial matrices in many ways including
  2-D and 3-D color plots
* to do operations on polynomial matrices such as transformation
  to various canonical forms including Hermite, Smith, echelon,
  row, column and diagonally reduced form
* to compute determinants and zeros of polynomial matrices
* to do operations among polynomial matrices, such as addition and
  multiplication, and finding least common multiples and greatest
  common divisors
* to perform advanced operations such as spectral factorization and
  computing null spaces
* to use polynomial matrices for modeling linear time-invariant
  systems, and to transform polynomial representations to and from
  other representations
* to solve many types of linear polynomial matrix equations
* to solve various types of control problems for linear systems,
  such as pole placement, H-2 and H-infinity optimization
* to solve various problems of signal processing

The Toolbox is aimed at industrial as well as classroom use in the
fields of control systems, signal processing and applied mathematics.
Its current version consists of almost one hundred m-files. Many of
them are based on efficient original algorithms. The Toolbox has been
developed within an joint EC project of the University of Twente, NL,
and the Institute of Information Theory and Automation, Prague, CZ.

A pre-commercial version of the POLYNOMIAL TOOLBOX has been released
on July 1, 1997. It is now available as freeware through the Toolbox
WWW home page at the URL

        http://www.math.utwente.nl/polbox

Future users are welcome to register and download the Toolbox along
with its hypertext manual and tutorial. They can also obtain more
information about the Toolbox, its applications in various engineering
fields and university courses, numerical algorithms and future plans.

Huibert Kwakernaak                              Michael
                                                Sebek
(H.Kwakernaak@math.utwente.nl)                  (msebek@utia.cas.cz)



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              *              Positions                 *
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Contributed by: Miroslav Krstic

        UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGO
         POSTDOC POSITION IN CONTROL THEORY

Applications are invited for one postdoc position associated with a new
control program. The appointment is for one year with a possibility of
extension and becomes available in September 1997 (starting time
flexible). The desired areas of expertise, ordered by preference, are:
  1. control and stability of infinite dimensional systems with emphasis
     on nonlinear evolution equations and control of flows.
  2. nonlinear, adaptive, and stochastic continuous time systems.
  3. control of combustion instabilities (experimental and theoretical).

The appointment is in the Department of Applied Mechanics and
Engineering Sciences which has strong programs in Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering (ranked 10th nationwide) and superb facilities and
support service. Unless the position is filled earlier, the interviews
are expected to be conducted in September and October 1997. Send all
relevant papers and a list of three references to:

Prof. Miroslav Krstic
Department of AMES
UCSD
9500 Gilman Dr.
La Jolla, CA 92093-0411

Before September 1, address e-mail inquiries to krstic@eng.umd.edu

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Bernardo A. Leon de la Barra (bernardo@tamarugo.cec.uchile.cl)


                              FACULTY POSITIONS
                             University of Chile
                    Department of Electrical Engineering


The Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Chile has new
openings for assistant and associate professor positions in the area of
telecommunications

The applicants should have a recent Ph.D. in electrical engineering/computer
science, although applications from outstanding candidates with different
profiles will be accepted. Experience in industrial research and fluency in
Spanish are not compulsory, but they will be considered strong assets.

The candidates are expected to participate in teaching (telecommunications
at the undergraduate and graduate level) and undertake research collabora-
tions with industry and academic partners.

The ideal candidate has a high research interest in one or several of the
following areas:

- High-speed Networking (ATM)
- Network Interconnection and Security
- Network Management and Services
- Network Simulation and Planning
- Radio System Engineering
- Wireless Communications and Mobility
- Mobile Network Services
- Communication and Information Theory
- Digital Signal Processing

A monthly salary of about US$3,000 will be offered for the position of
assistant professor. This salary could be incremented with honoraries
coming from projects with telecommunications companies or from
consultancies requested by the government.

The positions are already available and applications will be accepted
until the positions are filled.

For further information or applications (statement of interests, curriculum
vitae, passport size picture, 2 reference letters and copies of abstracts
of recent publications) please contact:

Nicolas H. Beltran, Head
Electrical Engineering Dept., University of Chile
Casilla 412-3. Santiago. Chile
Internet: nbeltra@tamarugo.cec.uchile.cl n.beltran@ieee.org
Phone: + 56 2 6966938 Fax: + 56 2 6953881

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Keith Woodgate

              PHD STUDENTSHIP IN CONTROL/OPTIMIZATION

Applications are invited for a three year PhD studentship beginning in
Autumn 1997. Possible areas of study include applications of modern control
and/or optimization theory preferably, though not necessarily, in aerospace
and related technologies. The studentship is open to EU citizens only and
comprises payment of all tuition fees and an allowance of up to GBP 9,000
p.a. Applicants should have, or shortly expect to obtain, the equivalent of
a first or upper second class degree in a relevant discipline. Send a current
curriculum vitae, either by s- or e-mail to:

Dr K.G. Woodgate
Department of Aeronautics
Imperial College
Prince Consort Road
London SW7 2BY, UK
+44(0)171 594 5100
k.woodgate@ic.ac.uk
http://www.ae.ic.ac.uk/staff/kwoodg/index.html



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              *                Books                   *
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*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Hidenori Kimura
                     kimura@crux.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp,
                     http://www.crux.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~kimura/index.html

  New Book : Chain-Scattering Approach to H-infinity Control

                               Hidenori Kimura

  Systems & Control Foundations & Applications,  Birkheuser
------------------------------------------------------------
The advent of H-infinity control was a truly remarkable innovation
in multivariable control theory. It eliminated the classical/modern
dichotomy that had been a major source of long-standing skepticism
about the applicability of modern control theory, by amalgamating
the 'philosophy' of classical design with 'computation' based on the
state-space problem setting. It enhanced the application by deepening
the theory mathematically and logically, not by weakening it as was
done by the reformers of modern control theory in the early 70's.

However, very few practical design engineers are familiar with the
theory, even though several theoretical frameworks have been proposed,
namely interpolation theory, matrix dilation, differential games,
approximation theory, linear matrix inequalities, etc. But none of these
frameworks have proven to be a natural,simple, and comprehensive
exposition of H-infinity control theory that is accessible to practical
engineers and demonstrably the most natural control strategy to achieve
the control objectives.

The purpose of this book is to provide a natural theoretical framework that
is understandable with little mathematical background. The notion of
chain-scattering, well-known in classical circuit theory but new to control
theorists, plays a fundamental role in this book. It captures an essential
feature of the control systems design, reducing it to a J-lossless factori-
zation, which leads us naturally to the idea of H-infinity control. The J-
lossless conjugation, an essentially new notion in linear system theory, then
provides a powerful tool for computing this factorization. Thus, the chain-
scattering representation, the J-lossless factorization, and the J-lossless
conjugation are the three key notions that provide the thread of development
in this book. The book is completely self-contained and requires little
mathematical background other than some familiarity with linear algebra. It
will be useful to practicing engineers in control system design and as a text
for a graduate course in H-infinity control and its applications.

                       CONTENTS
       Preface
       Introduction
              * Impacts of H-infinity Control
              * Theoretical Background
       Elements of Linear System Theory
              * State Space Description of Linear Systems
              * Controllability and Observability
              * State Feedback and Output Insertion
              * Stability of Linear Systems
       Norms and Factorizations
              * Norms of Signals and Systems
              * Hamiltonians and Riccati Equations
                 Factorizations
       C-Scattering Representations of Plants
              * Algebra of Chain-Scattering Representation
              * State-Space Forms of Chain-Scattering Representation
              * Dualization
              * J-Lossess and (J,J')-Lossless Systems
              * Dual (J,J')-Lossless Systems
              * Feedback and Terminations
       J-Lossless Conjugation and Interpolation
              * J-Lossless Conjugation
              * Connections to Classical Interpolation Problems
              * Sequential Structure of J-Lossless Conjugation
       J-Lossless Factorization
              * (J,J)-Lossless Factorization and its Dual
              * (J,J)-Lossless Factorization by J-Lossless Conjugation
              * (J,J)-Lossless Factorization in State Space
              * Dual (J,J)-Lossless Factorization in State Space
              * Hamiltonian Matrices
        H-infinity Control via (J,J)-Lossless Factorization
              * Formulation of H-infinity Control
              * Chain-Scattering Representations of Plants and H-inf Control
              * Solvability Conditions for Two-Block Cases
              * Plant Augmentations and Chain-Scattering Representations
        Statespace Solutions to H-infinity Control Problems
              * Problem Formulation and Plant Augmentation
              * Solution to H-infinity Control Problems for Augmented Plants
              * Maximum Augmentations
              * State-Space Solutions
              * Some Special Cases
        Structure of H-infinity Control
              * Stability Properties
              * Closed-Loop Structures of H-infinity Control
              * Examples

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Contributed by: George Yin

Announcing a new book

           Stochastic Approximation Algorithms and Applications
           by Harold J. Kushner and G. George Yin

Publisher: Springer-Verlag, New York, 1997


This book is the most up to date and comprehensive exposition
of the subject for both constrained and unconstrained problems.
It contains many new results, and covers many recent applications.
The book presents powerful methods for both probability one and weak
convergence of the algorithms. It gives a thorough treatment of
convergence, the ODE and ODE--stability methods, rate of convergence,
iterate averaging, high dimensional problems, ergodic cost problems,
stability methods for correlated and state dependent noise, decentralized
and asynchronous algorithms, as well as large deviations and perturbed
test function methods  for complex correlated noise processes. The
development proceeds from the simpler to the more complex problems,
allowing the underlying ideas to be motivated and understood.  Many
motivating examples are  used to illustrate the theory.


Table of Contents

Preface and Introduction

1  Introduction: Applications and Issues
1.0 Outline of Chapter
1.1 The Robbins--Monro Algorithm
1.2 The Kiefer--Wolfowitz Procedure
1.3 Extensions of the Algorithms: Variance Reduction,
    Robustness, Iterate Averaging, Constraints, and
    Convex Optimization

2  Applications to Learning, State Dependent Noise,
   and Queueing
2.0 Outline of Chapter
2.1 An Animal Learning Model
2.2 A Neural Network
2.3 $Q$-Learning
2.4 State Dependent Noise: A Motivational Example
2.5 Optimization of a GI/G/1 Queue
2.6 Passive Stochastic Approximation

3  Applications in Signal Processing and Adaptive Control
3.0  Outline of Chapter
3.1  Parameter Identification and Tracking
3.2  Tracking Time Varying Systems: An Adaptive
     Step Size Algorithm
3.3  Feedback and Averaging in the Identification Algorithm
3.4 Applications in Communication Theory

4 Mathematical Background
4.0  Outline of Chapter
4.1  Martingales, Submartingales
     and Inequalities
4.2 Ordinary Differential Equations
4.3  Projected ODE
4.4  Stochastic Stability and Perturbed Stochastic
     Liapunov Functions

5  Convergence with Probability One: Martingale
   Difference Noise
5.0  Outline of Chapter
5.1 Truncated Algorithms: Introduction
5.2 The ODE Method: A Basic Convergence Theorem
5.3  A General Compactness Method
5.4  Stability and Stability--ODE Methods
5.5  Soft Constraints
5.6 Random Directions, Subgradients, and
    Differential Inclusions
5.7  Convergence  for the Lizard Learning and Pattern
     Classification Problems
5.8  Convergence to a Local Minimum:
     A Perturbation Method

6  Convergence with Probability One: Correlated Noise
6.0  Outline of Chapter
6.1  A General Compactness Method
6.2  Sufficient Conditions for the Rate of Change Assumptions:
     Laws of Large Numbers
6.3  Perturbed State Criteria for the Rate of Change
     Assumptions
6.4  Examples Using State Perturbation
6.5  Kiefer--Wolfowitz Algorithms
6.6  A State Perturbation Method and State Dependent Noise
6.7  Stability Methods
6.8  Differential Inclusions and the Parameter Identification
     Problem
6.9  State Perturbation--Large Deviations Methods
6.10 Large Deviations Estimates

7  Weak Convergence: Introduction
7.0 Outline of Chapter
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Martingale Difference Noise
7.3 Weak Convergence
7.4 Martingale Limit Processes and the Wiener Process

8 Weak Convergence Methods for General Algorithms
8.0 Outline of Chapter
8.1 Assumptions: Exogenous Noise and
    Constant Step Size
8.2 Convergence: Exogenous Noise
8.3 The Kiefer--Wolfowitz Algorithm
8.4 Markov State Dependent Noise
8.5  Unconstrained Algorithms

9  Applications: Proofs of Convergence
9.0 Outline of Chapter
9.1 Average Cost per Unit Time Criteria: Introduction
9.2 A Continuous Time Stochastic Differential
    Equation Example
9.3 A Discrete Example: A GI/G/1 Queue
9.4 Signal Processing Problems

10  Rate of Convergence
10.0  Outline of Chapter
10.1 Exogenous Noise: Constant Step Size
10.2 Exogenous Noise: Decreasing Step Size
10.3 The Kiefer--Wolfowitz Algorithm
10.4 Tightness of the Normalized Iterates: Decreasing Step Size,
     W.P.1 Convergence
10.5 Tightness of the Normalized Iterates: Weak Convergence
10.6 Weak Convergence to a Wiener Process
10.7 Random Directions: Martingale Difference Noise
10.8 State Dependent Noise

11  Averaging of the Iterates
11.0 Outline of Chapter
11.1 Rate of Convergence of the Averaged Iterates: Minimal
     Window of Averaging
11.2 A Two Time Scale Interpretation
11.3 Maximal Window of Averaging
11.4 The Parameter Identification Problem:
     An Optimal Algorithm

12  Distributed/Decentralized and
    Asynchronous Algorithms
12.0 Outline of Chapter
12.1 Examples
12.2 Introduction: Real-Time Scale
12.3 The Basic Algorithms
12.4 Decreasing Step Size
12.5 State Dependent Noise
12.6 Rate of Convergence: The Limit Rate Equations
12.7 Stability and Tightness of the Normalized Iterates
12.8 Convergence for $Q$-Learning: Discounted Cost

References
Symbol Index
Index


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              *               Journals                 *
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Contributed by: Hershkowitz Daniel 


                           ANNOUNCEMENT
               Special issues honoring Hans Schneider

There are several events planned on the occasion of the 70th birthday
of Hans Schneider (January 24th, 1997), ILAS founder and past president.

ELA (The Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra - an ILAS publication),
announces a special issue dedicated to Hans Schneider.  Submissions for the
special issue of ELA will be accepted until November 1, 1997, with publication
date in the first half of 1998.  See http://www.math.technion.ac.il/iic/ela
for submission information.  A copy of the special issue will be presented
to Hans during the ILAS 98 conference.

The International Linear Algebra Society (ILAS) will hold its 1998 conference
in Madison, Wisconsin, on June 3-6, 1998, honoring Hans Schneider and his
many contributions to the linear algebra community.  As customary, the
proceedings of this conference will be published as a special issue of Linear
Algebra and its Applications (LAA)  and will be dedicated to Hans Schneider.
The special editors are Bryan Cain, Biswa Datta, Moshe Goldberg, Uri Rothblum,
and Daniel Szyld.  Information about submissions to the LAA special issue
will be given in the first mailing for the conference.  The deadline is
expected to be sometime in late 1998.

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Contributed by: Submitted by Edwin F. Beschler, Birkhauser Boston

Table of Contents for:
Journal of Mathematical Systems, Estimation, and Control
Volume 7, number 3, 1997


Finite-Dimensional Attractors of Weak Solutions to von Karman
        Plate Model
        I. Lasiecka  251

On Uniform Stabilizability and the Margin of Stabilizability
        G.H. Peich and C. Wang   277

A Finite Element Method for an Initial Value Inverse Problem
        with Overspecified Boundary Data
        Tao Lin and Bingyu Zhang   305

Continuous-Time Gauss-Markov Processes with
        Fixed Reciprocal Dynamics
        Alessandro Beghi  343

Summary: Generalized Isoperimetric Problem
        A.J. Krener and S. Nikitin   367

Summary: Robust and Risk-Sensitive Output Feedback
        Control for  Finite State Machines and Hidden
        Markov Models
        J.S. Baras and M.R. James    371

Summary: The Value Function of a Slow Growth Control
         Problem with State Constraints
         M. Motta and F. Rampazzo  375

Summary: Equivalent Conditions for the Solvability of
         Nonstandard LQ-Problems with Applications to
         P.D.E.s with Continuous Input-Output Solution Map
         C. McMillan  379

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Contributed by:  Boris Miller (bmiller@ippi.ac.msk.su)

        Avtomatica i Telemechanica
(translated  as  Automation  and Remote Control)
Contents, Volume 58, N 7, July, 1997

        Special issue
Modern Problems in Control Theory and Applications
(Singular Solutions and Perturbations in Control Systems)

Butuzov V.F., Vasil'eva A.B., Nefedov N.N.
Asymptotic Theory of Contrast Structures. A Survey

Abdullin R.Z.
Stability of Difference Equations with
Impulse Inputs and Input Instances Depending on the State Vector

Andreeva I.Yu., Sesekin A.N.
Singular Linear-Quadratic Optimization Problem with a Delay

Basin M.V.
Ellipsoidal State Filtering in an Infinite-Dimensional System. I

Bentsman J., Miller B.M.
Control of Distributed Systems with Generalized Inputs

Binning H.S., Goodall D.P.
Output Feedback Controls for a Class of Singularly Perturbed
Uncertain Nonlinear Systems

Borisov V.G., Grigor'ev F.N., Gul'ko F.B., Kuznetsov N.A.
On Control Systems Desynchronized with Respect to Measurements

Gorelova E.Ya.
Stability of Singularly Perturbed Stochastic Systems

Darkhovskii B.S.
Local-Optimal Vibrational Stabilization of Nonlinear Dynamic Systems

Degtiariova-Kostova E., Kostov V.
Suboptimal Paths in the Problem of Planar Motion with Constraints on
the Curvature Derivative

Zharikova E.N., Sobolev V.A.
Optimal Periodic Control Systems Subject to Singular Perturbations

Camilli F., Falcone M.
Analysis and Approximations for the Impulse Control Problem on the
Infinite Time Interval

Kolmanovskii V.B.
On the Exponential Stability of Some Difference  Volterra Equations

Kumkov S.I., Patsko V.S.
Information Sets in Impulse Control

Morina S.I., Chentsov A.G.
An Extension of Control Problem in the Class of Vector Finitely
Additive Measures

Rubinovich E.Ya.
The Generalized Linear-Quadratic Stochastic Control from Incomplete Data

Fridman L.M.
Separation of Motions in Heterorate Discontinuous Control Systems with Delays

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Contributed by: George Irwin

    IFAC Journal CONTROL ENGINEERING PRACTICE,
    Vol. 5., No. 6, May 1997.

Contents

 pp. 741-751
 Increased disturbance rejection in magnetic disk drives by
 acceleration feedforward control and parameter adaptation
 MT WHITE, M TOMIZUKA

 pp. 753-762
 Missile guidance using neural networks
 H LEE, Y-I LEE, E-J SONG, B-C SUN, M-J TAHK

 pp. 763-769
 Adaptive stabilisation of lateral motion of a balloon gondola
 D MATKO, N YAJIMA, M HINADA

 pp. 771-778
 A study of advanced control systems in the work place
 MA HERSH, MA JOHNSON

 pp. 779-789
 A hierarchical platform for implementing hybrid systems in process
 control
 HE GARCIA

 pp. 791-800
 Implementation of damped-rate resolved-acceleration robot control
 S-L WU, S-K LIN

 pp. 801-810
 Improving the robustness of dead-time compensating pi controllers
 JE NORMEY-RICO, C BORDONS, EF CAMACHO

 pp. 811-821
 Adaptive fuzzy scheme for efficient fast valving control
 Q CHEN, S TAN, Y HAU, Z WANG

 pp. 823-825
 Control aspects of planetary rovers
 K SCHILLING

 pp. 827-835
 The mission and operation of toe mars pathfinder microrover
 J MATIJEVIC, D SHIRLEY

 pp. 837-844
 Operations and control of the mobile instrument deployment device on
 the surface of mars
 K SCHILLING, L RICHTER, M BERNASCONI, C JUNGIUS, C GARCIA-MARIRRODRIGA

 pp. 845-850
 Driving technology and preliminary testing of a lunar rover
 N YOSHIOKA, Y WAKABAYASHI

 pp. 851-857
 Autonomy and remote control experiment for lunar rover missions
M MAURETTE, L BOISSIER, M DELPECH, C PROY, C QUERE

 pp. 859-863
 Small scale intelligence for lunar exploration
 P KLARER

 pp. 865-871
 IFAC Meeting Papers: World Congress, Volumes M and N

 pp. 873-878
 Index of IFAC Meeting Papers

 pp. 879-879
 Book Review

 pp. 881-884
Conference Calendar

 Announcements
 -------------
 SPECIAL SECTION ON CONTROL ASPECTS OF PLANETARY ROVERS
 This issue of Control Engineering Practice contains the above special
 section which is especially apposite in view of the expected landing
 on July 4th of the Mars rover.

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Contributed by: Taylor & Francis Table of Contents Service


       International Journal of Control
       Volume:- 67  Issue:- 4

Publication Date (Expected):  3rd July 1997

Contents:-

Title: A stable control structure for binary distillation columns
Authors:  F. Viel, E. Busvelle, J. P. Gauthier.
Pages 475-505.

Title: Constrained multivariable generalised predictive control (GPC) for
anaesthesia: The quadratic-programming approach (QP)
Authors:  M. Mahfouf, D.A. Linkens.
Pages 507-527.

Title: Extreme point result for robust stability of discrete systems with
complex coefficients in a diamond
Authors:  K.K. Yen, S.F. Zhou, G Roig.
Pages 529-538.

Title: Robust adaptive control of induction motors
Authors:  C-M Kwan.
Pages 539-552.

Title: M-Controllable subpredicates arising in state feedback control of
discrete event systems
Authors:  S Takai, Shinzo Kodama.
Pages 553-566.

Title: Quadratic forms and approximate feedback linearization in discrete time
Authors:  J P Barbot, S Monaco, D Normand-Cyrot.
Pages 567-586.

Title: Robust deadbeat regulation
Authors:  James Lam, H.K Tso, N.K Tsing.
Pages 587-602.

Title: Robust H -Estimation of nonlinear discrete-time processes
Authors:  Uri Shaked, M Shergei.
Pages 603-617.

Title: Computer-controlled continuous-time variable structure systems with
sliding modes
Authors:  Xinkai Chen, Toshio Fukuda.
Pages 619-639.

Title: On ARMA controllers in continuous-time feedback schemes
Authors:  Kazuo Yamanaka.
Pages 641-648.


              ******************************************
              *                                        *
              *              Conferences               *
              *                                        *
              ******************************************

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Contributed by: Alessandro Giua

        4th Workshop on Discrete Event Systems  (WODES'98)

                     Preliminary Announcement

                        August 26-28, 1998
                          Cagliari, Italy

           http://bode.diee.unica.it/~wodes98/wodes98.html

MAIN THEME: Discrete Event Systems: Applications and Tools


AIMS AND SCOPES

DES has developed to be an interdisciplinary field of shared interest,
methodologies and applications between control and computer science.
The research activity in this field was primarily motivated by the
needs of different domains: manufacturing, supervisory systems,
transportation, software engineering, and so on. DES is now a
mature field and many interesting applications have been developed.

The workshop will aim to bring together researchers from different
sciences (control theoreticians, software engineers, computer
scientists) in order to exchange information and ideas and discuss
new developments in the field. It is envisaged that areas of
interaction will be further explored and common applications will
be considered with focus on design, techniques and implementation
for the new era of technology.

TOPICS

The workshop will focus on the control of DES (with emphasis on real
time control), computer science (with emphasis on hybrid systems,
timed systems, Petri nets, process algebras, software verification
and design), and applications (with emphasis on manufacturing
systems and software engineering).

PLENARY LECTURES

Five plenary lectures are planned: two on control engineering, one on
computing science and two on applications.

WORKSHOP ADDRESS

All contributions PREFERABLY in electronic form are to be directed to

  WODES98
  Alessandro Giua
  Dip. Ingegneria Elettrica ed Elettronica
  University of Cagliari
  Piazza d'Armi
  I-09123 Cagliari
  Italy

  E-mail: wodes98@diee.unica.it
  Phone:  +39-70-675-5892
  Fax:    +39-70-675-5900
  WWW:    http://bode.diee.unica.it/~wodes98/wodes98.html
  ftp:    bode.diee.unica.it
          directory: /pub/wodes98

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT DATES

July 1997           - First announcement and call for papers
January 15, 1998    - Deadline for submission of contributed
                      papers (max 6 Proceedings pages)
April 15, 1998      - Notification of acceptance of submitted papers,
                      second announcement and preliminary program
June 15, 1998       - Deadline for reception of camera-ready papers
June 15, 1998       - Deadline for early registration
August 26-28, 1998  - WODES98

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Contributed by: Jose' Manoel Fernandes 

                              CALL FOR PAPERS

                 XII BRAZILIAN AUTOMATIC CONTROL CONFERENCE
            Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil, September 14-18, 1998


        Organized by SBA (Sociedade Brasileira de Automatica), the
national member organization of International Federation of Automatic
Control (IFAC).

        Brazilian Automatic Control Conference (CBA) has been held every
two years since 1976. The 1998 meeting will take place at the
Universidade
Federal de Uberlandia in Uberlandia, September 1998, in Uberlandia,
eastern Brazil, Minas Gerais state. It is a commercial
and transportation center for a vast livestock-raising and crop-farming
area. Manufactures include processed food and chemicals. Uberlandia was
chartered as a city in 1891. Population  around 600,000.

        Applied and theoretical contributions in all fields related to
Control and Automation are welcome. The topics of interest include, but
are not limited to: i) Systems theory; ii) Control and automation;
iii) Robust control; iv) Optimization; v) Adaptive and decentralized
control; vi) Intelligent control; vii) Electric power systems; viii)
Control of vehicles, machines, and electric converters; ix) Signal
processing; x) Process control and instruments; and xi) Power
electronics, xii) Education, history, and social implications of control
and automation, xiii) Agricultural control engineering.

        Papers in Portuguese, Spanish, and English are invited.
For a paper to be considered for inclusion in the technical program,
submit 5 copies of the complete paper, until december 20th, 1997,
free format. The final work will be in a two columns in an A4 size
paper.
        Submit papers to:

        Profs. Jose Manoel Fernandes/Joao Batista Vieira Junior
        Coordenacao Tecnica do XII CBA
        Universidade Federal de Uberlandia
        DEENE - CETEC - UFU
        Caixa Postal 593
        38.400-902  -  Uberlandia  -  Minas Gerais
        BRAZIL

        Tel: + (55) 34 239 4103
        Fax: + (55) 34 239 4103
        e-mail: XIICBA@ufu.br

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Contributed by: G. Zardetto email: zardetto@cra.enel.it
                ENEL/SRI  - Automatica Research Center

We have collaborated with other partners to the
organization  of  the Sixth European Conference on
Cognitive Science Approaches to Process Control
(CSAPC '97).
The conference will be held  in  Baveno, Italy,
September 23-26, 1997.

Conference Chair is Sebastiano Bagnara (Italy)

THE CONFERENCE

Cognitive Science Approaches to Process Control
(CSAPC) is a conference series initiated by a number of
well-known experts in cognitive psychology, man-
machine systems, and AI research. The purpose of the
CSAPC conference is to bring together researchers
from different disciplines to present and discuss recent
results regarding socio-technical problems in the control
of complex environments.
The theme of the sixth CSAPC conference to be held in
Baveno, Italy, September 23-26, 1997 is "Time and
space in process control".
Process control can be said to encompass time and
space in several ways. Firstly, dynamic processes are
themselves distributed in both time and space. They
evolve and change over time and the processes take
place in systems that are constituted of physically
distributed subsystems and components. The
distributions in time and space may easily cover five
orders of magnitude.
Secondly, to properly control the processes operators
must have an adequate understanding of both time and
space. This understanding must match the time/space
characteristics of the physical process well enough for
actions to be planned and carried out. Furthermore, time
itself is important for the control of the process, as
thinking and planning use time which  thereby  is lost.
Finally, the design of the interfaces between people and
processes must encompass both time and space. The
interface must provide an adequate representation of
the dynamics and the topology of the process. In
addition, the interface medium itself will have temporal
and spatial features that designers must take into
account.

PROGRAMME

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
16.00   Registration
19.00   Welcome cocktail

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
08. 00  Registration continues
08.45   Opening
09.00   Session1: Organization and Process
        Control
10.30   Poster Session 1: Theories and Models in
        Process Control
11.00   Coffee-break
11.30   Session 2: Human Error and System
        Reliability
13.00   Lunch
14.30   Interactive Session 1: Cooperation and
        Process Control
16.00   Coffee-break
16.30   Session 3: Human Error and System
        Reliability

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
09.00   Session 4: Process control in aviation
10.30   Poster Session 2: Tools and Practices in
        Process Control
11.00   Coffee-break
11.30   Session 5: Process control and decision
        making
13.00   Lunch
14.30   Interactive Session 2: Individuals and
        Process Control
16.00   Coffee-break
16.30   Session 6: Process control and decision
        making
17.30   EACE - Annual General meeting
20.30   Social Dinner

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
09.00   Session 7: Design for process control
10.30   Coffee-break
11.00   General discussion
12.00   Lunch
13.30   Technical visit toTrino Leri Thermoelectrical
        Power Plant


The complete documentation of this conference is
available at:
http://www.cra.enel.it/csapc97


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Contributed by Wei Wang   

Last Announcement and Call for Papers

           International Federation of Automatic Control
           5th Symposium on Low Cost Automation
           Shenyang, P. R. China, September 8-10, 1998


Scope

Different applications fields benefit from automation by introducing
suitable control strategies and devices without relevant modifications
of the whole system or of the productive process. This aim should be
achieved by a low cost automation approach.

The objective of this Symposium is to bring together end-users and control
systems specialists to evaluate the possibilities of techniques, design
procedures, components and instruments to achieve a low cost automation,
not only considering all the economic aspects but also the improvements
in productivity, reliability, flexibility, and facility of implementation.
Special emphasis should be pleased on small and medium-sized enterprises.

The former four low cost automation symposia, held in Valencia 1986,
Milan 1989, Vienna 1992 and Buenos Aires 1995, showed the wide range of
applications and the great interest from an industrial point of view of
these techniques.

Submission of Papers

Five copies of an extended abstract(about 1000 words) in English
should be received by the following address:
Prof. Wei Wang
Research Center of Automation
Northeastern University
Shenyang, 110006, P.R.China
Tel: (+86) -24-3906491,   Fax:(+86) -24-3895647
e-mail:wangw@mail.neu.edu.cn

The abstract should include:
1) The title of the paper
2) The name(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s)
3) The contact author: mail address, e-mail address and fax number

Deadlines
Submission of extended abstract : October 30, 1997
Notification of acceptance : February 15, 1998
Camera ready copy : April 30, 1998

For further information please contact:

LCA'98 Secretariat
POB 919, Beijing 100070
P.R. China
Tel: (+86)-10-63812255
Fax: (+86)-10-63816990

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Contributed by:  Yuri L. Sachkov (sachkov@sys.botik.ru)


                        International Conference
                  dedicated to the 90th Anniversary of
                           L. S. Pontryagin

             August, 31 -- September, 6, 1998, Moscow

                         FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT

The  Steklov Mathematical Institute of the Russian Academy
of Sciences together with Moscow State (Lomonosov) University
are organizing an International Conference on Mathematics and
Applications dedicated to the 90th Anniversary of the prominent
mathematician Lev Semenovich Pontryagin.

The Conference will be held in Moscow from August, 31 to
September, 6, 1998 and will include the following four sections:
Algebra, Geometry and Topology, Differential Equations, Optimal Control.

                    Registration.

The registration form is available at pont@mi.ras.ru.
The completed registration forms must reach the Organizing Committee
by April 2, 1998 at the latest.

                    Registration Fee.

The registration fee for the Conference will be approximately 100 USD.
We hope to obtain some financial support for participants from the FSU
countries.

                     Abstracts.

The participants should submit their abstracts to the Organizing Committee
by May 15, 1998. The length of the abstract should not exceed two
typewritten pages. Sending TeX files (in any standard macro package) by
E-mail is strongly encouraged.

                   Accommodations.

Accomodation will be available at the Moscow University
Hotel Complex (located in the Main Building of the University)
and the city hotels.

                     Contacts.

Additional information about the Conference is available on the
World Wide Web:

        http://www.mi.ras.ru/\~pont/
        http://cmc.cs.msu.su/pont/


Please send your registration forms, abstracts and all correspondence
concerning the Conference to:

        Pontryagin Conference,
        Steklov Mathematical Institute,
        Gubkina 8, GSP-1, Moscow 117966, Russia

        E-Mail: pont@mi.ras.ru
        Phone:  (+7) (095) 135-24-90
        Fax:    (+7) (095) 135-05-55

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Contributed by: Trini Flores


     Dear Colleagues:

     The advance program schedule, including information on hotel,
     transportation, and registration for the Sixth SIAM Conference on
     Applied Linear Algebra is now available on the World Wide Web. Visit

     http://www.siam.org/meetings/la97/la97home.htm

     If you have any further inquiry, please contact the SIAM Conference
     Department, phone: 215-382-9800; fax: 215-386-7999; e-mail:
     meetings@siam.org

     See you in Snowbird!

     Alan George, Conference Chair
     Sixth SIAM Conference on Applied Linear Algebra
     October 29-November 1, 1997
     Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort, Snowbird, Utah

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Contributed by: Vassilis Syrmos 

              1998 IEEE CONFERENCE ON CONTROL APPLICATIONS

                Congress Center of the Stazione Marittima
                 Molo Bersaglieri 3, 34124 Trieste, ITALY
                            September 1-4, 1998

                   http://spectra.eng.hawaii.edu/~cca98
                       important deadlines (below)

                    CALL FOR PAPERS AND INVITED SESSIONS

The Seventh IEEE Conference on Control Applications (CCA)  is being sponsored
by  the  IEEE Control Systems Society, and technically cosponsored by the IEEE
Robotics and Automation Society, the International Federation of Automatic
Control, the European Union Control Association, the IEEE North Italy, the
University of Trieste, and the Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia. The function of
the IEEE CCA is to bring together theoretical results and practical
applications in system and control theory, particularly in regard to uses in
industrial, commercial, aerospace, power systems, automotive, or other applied
arenas.  The Program Committee solicits papers presenting original work in all
aspects of theoretical and practical control applications.  The theme for
CCA'98 is Control Applications in Biological and Medical Systems.  The theme
of CCA is meant to help structure the conference and not to limit the topics
covered.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the applications of
traditional and modern control design techniques in:

   ** Aerospace Systems ** Adaptive Control ** Automotive Systems
   ** Biomedical Systems ** Computer-Aided Design ** Discrete Event Systems
   ** Distributed Systems ** Expert Systems ** Fault Tolerance ** Fuzzy Systems
   ** Manufacturing Systems ** Modeling and Identification ** Neural Networks
   ** Nonlinear Systems ** Power Electronics/Systems ** Process Control
   ** Robotics ** Robust Control ** Sensor-Based Control

IMPORTANT DATES:

        January 15, 1998        Full Papers and Proposals Due
        April 1, 1998           Notification of Acceptance/Rejection
        April 30, 1998          Electronic Submission of Title and Abstract
        May 22, 1998            Final Camera-Ready Papers Due

PAPER SUBMISSION:

FIVE copies of the full paper must be received for peer review by one
of the Program Chairs by  15 JAN. 1998.  Papers will be reviewed by the
International Program Committee.  Authors will be notified of acceptance or
rejection by 1 APRIL 1998.  Electronic submissions of title and
abstract are required by 30 APRIL 1998.  The final camera-ready papers
must be received by the Conference Secretariat no later than 22 MAY 1998.


INVITED SESSIONS WORKSHOPS:

FOUR copies of proposals for: Invited Sessions, including extended abstracts
and a cover letter indicating the scope of the proposed session; or
Workshops, including a detailed outline of the proposed topic, must be
submitted to either Program Chair by 15 JAN. 1998. Invited Sessions
may include an introductory survey paper.  Workshops will be held on 1 SEP.
1998.  Invited sessions and workshops in the conference theme of biomedical
systems are particularly of interest.

PROCEEDINGS & CD-ROM:

A CD-ROM and a Book of Abstracts will be provided at the conference.  A hard
copy of the proceedings will be mailed after the conference to those who
request it for an additional charge.


For further information, VISIT OUR WEB SITE, or contact the General Chair:

                Frank L. Lewis
                Automation & Robotics Research Institute
                The University of Texas at Arlington
                7300 Jack Newell Blvd. S.
                Fortworth, TX 76118, USA
                Email: flewis@controls.uta.edu
                Phone: (817) 272-5972
                Fax: (817) 272-5989

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Contributed by: Eva Zerz 

                               Workshop
                `OPERATORS, SYSTEMS AND LINEAR ALGEBRA:
               THREE DECADES OF ALGEBRAIC SYSTEMS THEORY'
                  In Honor of Professor Paul Fuhrmann

                       Kaiserslautern, Germany
                        September 24-26, 1997

Dear Colleagues, we would like to invite you to attend a workshop
on `Operators, Systems and Linear Algebra,' which will be held
at the University of Kaiserslautern, September 24-26, 1997.

The scope of the workshop is to present a retrospect of the
past three decades of algebraic systems theory as well as
to provide an outlook on the future development of the field.

The workshop is dedicated to Paul A. Fuhrmann, in acknowledgement
of his major contributions to operator and systems theory, and on
the occasion of his 60th birthday.

Proceedings will be published by Teubner Verlag, in cooperation
with the European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry.

For further information, please contact:
Eva Zerz, Department of Mathematics, University of Kaiserslautern,
67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany. Fax: +49 631 205 3052.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Kaiserslautern!

Uwe Helmke, Dieter Praetzel-Wolters, Eva Zerz


                       PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

Wednesday, September 24:

  9.00-9.10  Opening
  9.10-9.50  R.W. Brockett        Spectral methods in systems theory
                                  and mathematics
 9.50-10.30  P.S. Krishnaprasad   Modeling and reduction
10.50-11.30  H.J. Sussmann        The algebraic structures of nonlinear
                                  systems theory
11.30-12.10  A.R. Tannenbaum      Differential invariants and curvature
                                  flows in active vision
14.00-14.40  D. Hinrichsen        Generalized partial realizations
14.40-15.20  H. Schneider         Lyapunov revisited
15.40        Contributed Session:
             A.M. Perdon          Systems over rings and
                                  delay-differential systems
             U. Oberst            Time-varying linear systems and modules
                                  over rings of differential operators
             J. Wood              A behavioural approach to poles of nD
                                  systems
             B. Hanzon            New results on balanced parametrization
                                  and model reduction
             J. Hoffmann          Balancing and factorization for classes
                                  of linear systems
             A. Ferrante          An algebraic approach to minmal smoothers
18.30        M. Hazewinkel        (to be announced)


Thursday,  September 25:

9.00-9.40    G. Picci             Oblique splitting subspaces and
                                  stochastic realization with inputs
9.40-10.20   A. Lindquist         On the partial stochastic realization problem
10.40-11.20  F. Callier           On output-stabilization and detectability
                                  of discrete-time linear quadratic optimal
                                  control systems
11.20-12.00  A. Gombani           The reduction of multiplicity in
                                  systems modeling
12.00-12.40  R.J. Ober            Symmetry and infinite dimensional
                                  system theory


Friday,  September 26:

9.00-9.40    D. Arov              Passive linear systems theory:
                                  some solved and open problems
9.40-10.20   J.S. Baras           Infinite dimensional systems,
                                  Hardy function algebras, the Corona
                                  theorem and complexity
10.40-11.20  J.W. Helton          (to be announced)
11.20-12.00  M. Heymann           Algebraic systems theory and the control of
                                  hybrid systems
12.00-12.40  M. Hautus            State feedback in general discrete-time
                                  systems
14.00-14.40  G. Marchesini        Matrix pairs and 2D systems analysis
14.40-15.20  J.M. Schumacher      Linear systems and discontinuous dynamics
15.40-16.20  A. C. Antoulas       (to be announced)
16.20-17.00  J. C. Willems        Polynomials come of age.

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contributed by : Jean Jacques Loiseau 

        IFAC CONFERENCE ON SYSTEM STRUCTURE AND CONTROL
                Nantes, France, July 8-10 1998

                      NEW DEADLINES

SCOPE

The aim of the conference is to bring together specialists on system
structure, control, linear and non linear system theory, to provide
them with an opportunity to establish contacts and exchange ideas and
new trends.Junior people are encouraged to attend and participate in
the conference.

The topics include : Linear systems - Nonlinear systems - Structural
invariants - Implicit systems - Time-delay systems - Nonstationary
linear systems - Infinite dimensional linear systems - nD systems -
H-infinity and robust control - Optimisation - Discrete-event systems.

The presentation of applications, and the organisation of
invited sessions are encouraged.

CALL FOR PAPERS

5 copies of full papers should be sent to the chairman of the
International Program Committee

          J.-M. Dion
          LAG-ENSIEG BP 46
          F-38402 Saint-Martin-d'Heres
          FRANCE

          dion@lag.grenet.fr
    Tel : (33) 4 76 82 62 35
    Fax : (33) 4 76 82 63 88

DEADLINES

October 15, 1997       Submission of full papers
January 15, 1998       Notification of acceptance
April 1, 1998          Final papers

ESTIMATED FEES
350 USD

COPYRIGHT

The material submitted for presentation at an IFAC meeting (congress,
symposium, conference, workshop) must be original, not published or
being considered elsewhere. All papers accepted for presentation will
appear in the Prepints of the meeting and will be distributed to the
participants. Papers duly presented will be archived and offered for
sale, in the form of Postprint volumes, by Elsevier Science Ltd.,
Oxford, UK. The presented papers will be further screened for possible
publication in the IFAC journals Automatica and Control Engineering
Practice, or in other, IFAC affiliated journals. All papers presented
will be recorded in Control Engineering Practice.

Copyright of material presented at an IFAC meeting is held by IFAC.
Authors will be sent a copyright transfer form. Automatica, Control
Engineering Practice  and, after these, IFAC affiliated journals have
priority access to all contributions presented. However, if the author
is not contacted by an editor of these journals, within three months
after the meeting, the author is free to re-submit the material for
publication elsewhere. In this case, the paper must carry a reference
to the IFAC meeting where it was originally presented.


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