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A new augmented method is proposed for elliptic interface problems with a piecewise variable coefficient that has a finite jump across a smooth interface. The main motivation is to get not only a second order accurate solution but also a second order accurate gradient from each side of the interface. Key to the new method is introducing the jump in the normal derivative of the solution as an augmented variable and rewriting the interface problem as a new PDE that consists of a leading Laplacian operator plus lower order derivative terms near the interface. In this way, the leading second order derivative jump relations are independent of the jump in the coefficient that appears only in the lower order terms after the scaling. An upwind type discretization is used for the finite difference discretization at the irregular grid points on or near the interface so that the resulting coefficient matrix is an M-matrix. A multigrid solver is used to solve the linear system of equations, and the GMRES iterative method is used to solve the augmented variable. Second order convergence for the solution and the gradient from each side of the interface is proved in this paper. Numerical examples for general elliptic interface problems confirm the theoretical analysis and efficiency of the new method.

It is well-known that in Banach spaces with finite cotype, the $R$ -bounded and $\gamma $ -bounded families of operators coincide. If in addition $X$ is a Banach lattice, then these notions can be expressed as square function estimates. It is also clear that $R$ -boundedness implies $\gamma $ -boundedness. In this note we show that all other possible inclusions fail. Furthermore, we will prove that $R$ -boundedness is stable under taking adjoints if and only if the underlying space is $K$ -convex.

A review is presented of recent results on front propagation in reaction-diffusion-advection equations in homogeneous and heterogeneous media. Formal asymptotic expansions and heuristic ideas are used to motivate the results wherever possible. The fronts include constant-speed monotone traveling fronts in homogeneous media, periodically varying traveling fronts in periodic media, and fluctuating and fractal fronts in random media. These fronts arise in a wide range of applications such as chemical kinetics, combustion, biology, transport in porous media, and industrial deposition processes. Open problems are briefly discussed along the way.

Adapting the convex integration technique introduced in \cite{dLSz5} and subsequently developed in \cite{IsettVicol,IsettOh16,Buckmaster2013transporting}, we construct H\"{o}lder continuous weak solutions to the three dimensional Prandtl system and some other models with vertical viscosity.