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\section{RISC-Linz --- Research Institute for Symbolic Computation,
         Johannes Kepler University}


At RISC-Linz, whose chair is Prof.\ Bruno Buchberger and which is located
in the castle of Hagenberg near Linz, Parallel Computation is handled in close
connection with Symbolic Computation. Symbolic Computation is that part of
computer science respectively mathematics that is dedicated to the solution of
problems with non-numerical (``symbolic'') objects. It serves as the basis for
many advanced software topics, such as 

\begin{itemize}
 \item computer aided design and geometric modelling,
 \item robotics and softautomation,
 \item computer algebra systems,
 \item expert systems and artificial intelligence, 
 \item logic and functional programming,
 \item scientific software.
\end{itemize}

In all these areas, there exist many very interesting and powerful, but also
time-consuming, algorithms. Thus, many problems become intractable very soon
when handled on conventional sequential computer architectures. Therefore, 
Parallel Computation has become an integrated part of Symbolic Computation.

The research in Parallel Computation at RISC-Linz has
its roots in 1978, when a parallel architecture and programming language for
Symbolic Computation were created. Today, the Parallel Computation Group
at RISC-Linz consists of two faculty members, four PhD\ students
and several diploma students. The main research interests of this group are:

\begin{itemize}
 \item the design and implementation of {\em parallel algorithms\/} for computer
       algebra, computational logic and computer geometry,
 \item the design and implementation of {\em parallel software systems\/} for 
       implementing these algorithms, and
 \item the {\em parallelization of\/} declarative (functional and logic) 
       {\em programming languages\/}.
\end{itemize}

A special emphasis is put on the synergy between these research areas in
Parallel Computation and also between the work in other areas of Symbolic
Computation and the work in Parallel Computation.

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