ded VecStrideScale(), VecStrideGather(), VecStrideScatter()</li>
        <li>Added VecBlockNorm(),VecBlockMax(),VecBlockMin(),VecBlockScale()</li>
      </ul>

      <h4>Mat:</h4>

      <ul>
        <li>
          The interface to external packages that support direct solvers has
          been reorganized. This is implemented using new matrix types
          MATSEQAIJSPOOLES, MATMPIAIJSPOOLES, MATSEQSBAIJSPOOLES,
          MATMPISBAIJSPOOLES, MATSUPERLU, MATSUPERLU_DIST, MATUMFPACK,MATESSL,
          MATL