APPROXIMATE DIRICHLET BOUNDARY CONDITIONS IN THE GENERALIZED FINITE ELEMENT METHOD By Ivo Babuˇ ska Victor Nistor and Nicolae Tarfulea IMA Preprint Series # 2096 ( February 2006 ) INSTITUTE FOR MATHEMATICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 400 Lind Hall 207 Church Street S.E. Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455–0436 Phone: 612/624-6066 Fax: 612/626-7370 URL: http://www.ima.umn.edu