1) Make the occurrence of sequences of univariate steps more likely;

2) also impose a sequence of univariate steps in the first iteration;

matlab/newrat.m

@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ while norm(gg)>gtol && check==0 && jit<nit
         fval=fval1;
         x0=x01;
     end
-    if (fval0(icount)-fval)<1.e-2*(gg'*(H*gg))/2 && igibbs
+    if icount==1 || (icount>1 && (fval0(icount-1)-fval0(icount))>1) || ((fval0(icount)-fval)<1.e-2*(gg'*(H*gg))/2 && igibbs),
         if length(find(ig))<nx
             ggx=ggx*0;
             ggx(find(ig))=gg(find(ig));