Department of Mathematics and Statistics Talks for the week April 6-10, 2009 (previous week)

Analysis Seminar: "Some existence results related to the prescribed mean curvature problem"   Date Monday, April 06, 2009 Time 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CDT Where Room G-4, Rolla Building Event Type Lectures & Seminars Presenter Dr. Vy Le Sponsored by Department of Mathematics and Statistics Contact David Grow Time Scales Seminar: "Trigonometric and Hyperbolic Systems on Time Scales"   Date Wednesday, April 08, 2009 Time 4:00 pm – 4:50 pm CDT Where Room G-4, Rolla Building Event Type Lectures & Seminars Presenter Petr Zemanek, Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic Sponsored by Department of Mathematics and Statistics Contact Martin Bohner Description The seminar will cover trigonometric and hyperbolic systems on time scales. These systems generalize and unify their corresponding continuous-time and discrete-time analogies, namely the systems known in the literature as trigonometric and hyperbolic linear Hamiltonian systems and discrete symplectic systems. Time scale matrix definitions of the usual trigonometric and hyperbolic functions will show that many identities known from the basic calculus extend to this general setting, including the time scale differentiation of these functions. More http://web.mst.edu/~bohner/seminar/ts.html Topology/Algebra Seminar: "Intro to Contact Algebras (Continued)"   Date Thursday, April 09, 2009 Time 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CDT Where Room G-5; Rolla Building Event Type Lectures & Seminars Presenter Dr. Matt Insall Sponsored by Mathematics and Statistics Contact Robert Roe Description In [1], Dimiter Vakarelov describes the concept of a contact algebra, which was introduced by Dimov and Vakarelov in [2] to help formalize a notion, championed by Whitehead in [3], of "contact" between regions in space. Formally, a contact algebra is a pair A=(B, C), where B=(B,0,1,^,v,~) is a Boolean algebra, and C is a binary relation on the set B, such that the following hold: (C1) xCy implies x>0; (C2) xC(yvz) if either xCy or xCz; (C3) xCy implies yCx; (C4) x^y>0 implies xCy. Examples of contact algebras include the algebra of regular closed subsets of a topological space, and the algebra of regular open subsets of a topological space. This kind of "pointless" topology, or "pointless" geometry, has applications in artificial intelligence and knowledge representation, via qualitative spatial reasoning, and represents a fertile area of interaction between classical Boolean algebra, topology and logic. [1] D. Vakarelov, Region-Basel Theory of Space: Algebras of Regions, Represent at ion Theory, and Logics, In: Mathematical Problems from Applied Logic. Logics for the XX-Ist Century. II. Edited by Dov M. Gabbay et. al. Int'l Mathematical Series, 5, Springer, 2007. [2] G. Dimov and D. Vakarelov, Contact algebras and region-based theory of space. A proximity approach. I, Fundam. Inform. (2006) [3] A. N. Whitehead, Process and Reality. New York, MacMillan, 1929. Student Research Seminar   Date Friday, April 10, 2009 Time 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm CDT Where Room 216, Butler-Carlton Hall Event Type Lectures & Seminars Sponsored by Mathematics and Statistics Department Contact Dr. Matt Insall Description The seminar includes topics of interest to students, both graduate and undergraduate, who are doing research in any discipline. Students who would like to present their research are welcome to contact Dr. Insall to schedule a time.