In these lectures I review classical aspects of the self-dual Chern-Simons systems which describe charged scalar fields in 2 + 1 dimensions coupled to a gauge field whose dynamics is provided by a pure Chern-Simons Lagrangian. These self-dual models have one realization with nonrelativistic dynamics for the scalar fields, and another with relativistic dynamics for the scalars. In each model, th...

Many interior-point methods for linear programming are based on the properties of the logarithmic barrier function. After a preliminary discussion of the convergence of the (primal) projected Newton barrier method, three types of barrier method are analyzed. These methods may be categorized as primal, dual and primal-dual, and may be derived from the application of Newton’s method to different ...

We consider a mixed boundary value problem for a quarter-plane with a Robin condition on one edge. We have developed two procedures, one based on the advanced theory of dual integral equations and the other, in our opinion simpler technique, relying on conformal mapping. Both of the procedures are of interest, because the former may be easier to adapt to other boundary value problems.