def METHOD_NAME(a, eps=1e-4):
    """Returns the log of max(a, eps) using the smooth_max expression.
    This can be used to avoid transient evaluation errors when changing a model
    from one state to another.  This can be used when at the solution, a >> eps.
    Args:
        a: Pyomo expression
        eps: epsilon parameter for smooth max
    Returns:
        approximately log(max(a, eps))
    """
    return log(smooth_max(a, eps, eps=eps))