This volume (>Ie) NEMATICS Mathematical and Physical aspects constitutes the proceedings of a workshop which was held at l'Universite de Paris Sud (Orsay) in May 1990. This meeting was an Advanced Research Workshop sponsored by NATO. We gratefully acknowledge the help and support of the NATO Science Committee. Additional support has been provided by the Ministere des affaires etrangeres (Paris) and by the Direction des Recherches et Etudes Techniques (Paris). Also logistic support has been provided by the Association des Numericiens d'Orsay. (*) These proceedings are published in the framework of the "Contrat DRET W 90/316/ AOOO". v Contents (*) FOREWORD v INTRODUCTION 1. M. CORON, 1. M. GHIDAGLIA, F. HELEIN xi AN ENERGY-DECREASING ALGORITHM FOR HARMONIC MAPS F. ALOUGES 1 A COHOMOLOGICAL CRITERION FOR DENSITY OF SMOOTH MAPS IN SOBOLEV SPACES BETWEEN TWO MANIFOLDS F. BETHUEL, 1. M. CORON, F. DEMENGEL, F. HELEIN 15 ON THE MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF TEXTURES IN POLYMERIC LIQUID CRYSTALS M. C. CAmERER 25 A RESULT ON THE GLOBAL EXISTENCE FOR HEAT FLOWS OF HARMONIC MAPS FROM D2 INTO S2 K. C. CHANG, W. Y. DING 37 BLOW-UP ANALYSIS FOR HEAT FLOW OF HARMONIC MAPS Y. CHEN 49 T AYLOR-COUETTE INSTABILITY IN NEMATIC LIQUID CRYSTALS P. E. ClADIS 65 ON A CLASS OF SOLUTIONS IN THE THEORY OF NEMATIC PHASES B. D. COLEMAN, 1. T. JENKINS 93 RHEOLOGY OF THERMOTROPIC NEMATIC LIQUID CRYSTALLINE POLYMERS M. M. DENN, 1. A.