TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. AWARDS

1.1 RAB Achievement Awards
1.2 WINNER - YEAR OF THE SENIOR MEMBER CONTEST

2. CONFERENCES

2.1 HMM'99
2.2 WMC'99
2.3 ISRACAS'99
2.4 ICCCP'98 in Oman - Report
2.5 MINE'99
2.6 PREP'99 - Report

3. NEW CHAPTERS

3.1 Computer Society Chapter of the Czechoslovakia Section
3.2 Joint Chapter of the Bulgaria Section

1. AWARDS

1.1 RAB Achievement Awards

At the 13 November 1998 Regional Activities Board Meeting the following Region 8 members were approved as recipients of the 1998 RAB Achievement Award:

Zbigniew Ciok

"For outstanding service as Section Chairman which accelerated the development of the IEEE in Poland and Eastern Europe."

"For exemplary service to the IEEE Poland Section."

1.2 WINNER - YEAR OF THE SENIOR MEMBER CONTEST

The EGYPT SECTION is the winner of the Year of the Senior Member Contest announced last year by the outgoing Director of Region 8, Maurice Papo. The Section deserves recognition for what has been achieved.

The Section Chair, or his representative, will be invited to attend the May 1999 Berlin Region 8 meeting

Information by:

Maurice Papo Email: m.papo@ieee.org
1999 IEEE Secretary
14, Bd Prince de Galles Phone: (33) 493.81.41.12
06000 Nice, France Fax: (33) 493.53.26.73

 
2.0 CONFERENCES

The Region 8 Home Page list of R8 Conferences and Technically Co-sponsored events has been updated. Visit our Website at:

2.1 HMM'99

2nd International Symposium on HYSTERESIS MODELING AND MICROMAGNETICS, HMM'99, Perugia, June 7-9, 1999
 

INTERNATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE

E. Cardelli, The University of Perugia, Chairman
O. Benda, The Technical University of Bratislava
L. Bennett, The George Washington University
G. Bertotti, The IEN Galileo Ferraris, Turin
A. Bossavit, The EDF, Clamart
M. Brokate, The University of Kiel
J.R. Cardoso, The University of Sao Paulo
E. Della Torre, The George Washington University
A. Ivanyi, The University of Budapest
H. Kronmüller, Max Planck Institut, Stuttgart
I. Mayergoyz, The University of Maryland
R. Mc Michael, The NIST Lab., Gaithersburg, MD
I. Müller, The Technical University of Berlin
J.L. Porteseil, The Lab. Louis Niel, Grenoble
J. Sprekels, The Weierstrass Institute, Berlin
N. Takahashi, The University of Okayama
A. Visintin, The University of Trento
 

REGISTRATIONS AND ENQUIRIES

HMM'99
Prof. Ermanno Cardelli
Istitute of Energetics
University of Perugia
via G. Duranti 1/A-4, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Fax +39 075 5852703
e-mail: hmm99@unipg.it
http://www.unipg.it/hmm99/
 

LOCATION

The second International Symposium on Hysteresis Modeling and Micromagnetics will be held in Palazzo Murena, the XV Century building where is located the central seat of the University of Perugia. The previous Symposium was held at the George Washington University Virginia Campus. Perugia is an ancient town founded in the prehistoric epoch, placed in the Umbria region, also called "the green heart of Italy" for its rich and extended vegetation Perugia is a very popular tourist destination, known for its important monuments, its folklore, its rich cuisine and its quiet and friendly people.
 

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the Symposium is to present and discuss recent theories and developments about hysteresis, either from the macroscopic or from the microscopic point of view. While papers on all aspects of hysteresis will be welcome, contributions are especially invited on the magnetic hysteresis. Papers on all aspects of micromagnetic field calculation are also welcome. The Symposium will provide a special occasion for engineers, mathematicians and physicists, interested in this research field, to present and exchange ideas, methods and results.

The official language is English. No simultaneous translation is provided.
 

TECHNICAL PAPERS

The final program will include invited talks and poster presentations. The papers presented at the Symposium will be peer refereed and collected for publication in a special issue of the Journal Physica B * Condensed Matter.

A copy of the volume of the abstracts and a copy of the special issue of Physica B will be provided to all the participants at the meeting.
 

REGISTRATION FEES

Before April 31, 1999
Regular attendee ITL 450,000
Accompanying persons ITL 350,000

After April 31, 1999
Regular attendee ITL 550,000
Accompanying persons ITL 400,000

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Prof. Ermanno Cardelli Istituto di Energetica, Universita' di Perugia
Via G. Duranti, 1/A-4 06125 Perugia, Italia
Tel. +39 075 5852731 Fax. +39 075 5852703
Cell. Ph. 0338 4296050
e-mail: ermanno@turbo.isten.ing.unipg.it
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 

2.2 SECOND WORLD MANUFACTURING CONGRESS (WMC'99)

http://www.icsc.ab.ca/wmc99.htm

CALL FOR PAPERS / EXTENDED SUBMISSION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 15, 1999

September 27-30, 1999
at the Universities at Sunderland and Durham, U.K.
WMC'99 is organized in conjunction with the

NORTHERN MANUFACTURING EXHIBITION 1999

**************************************

EXTENDED SUBMISSION DEADLINE

Extended Abstracts should be sent to operating@icsc.ab.ca by February 15, 1999

**************************************

SPONSORS

University of Sunderland, U.K.
University of Durham, U.K.
University of Newcastle-upon Tyne, U.K.
IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IEEE - Communications Society
IEE - Institution of Electrical Engineers
IMechE - Institution of Mechanical Engineers
ICSC - International Computer Science Conventions
City of Newcastle

**************************************

PURPOSE OF THE CONGRESS

Manufacturing for the Millennium. The emphasis of this congress is on bringing researchers and industry closer together in an endeavor to highlight the importance of both theoretical and applied research in the light of new shifts in the global economy. The continuous exchange of  scientific and technical information is of particular importance in a time of worldwide challenges in the  manufacturing industry. The impact of other rapidly changing industries such as microelectronics, automation, computer/information engineering and environmental protection is evolving new philosophies in manufacturing. The congress, to be held every second year, is meant to be a forum for academia and industry for research and the transfer of research to practice. The previous congress held in New Zealand (WMC'97) attracted participants from 35 countries around the world.

The following symposia form part of WMC'99

- ISMS'99 International Symposium on Manufacturing Systems
- ISMT'99 International Symposium on Manufacturing Technology
- ISMM'99 International Symposium on Manufacturing Management

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS (ISMS'99)

- Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing
- Concurrent and Simultaneous Engineering
- Data Capture Automation
- Database Technology
- Decision Support Tools
- Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
- Financial Aspects of Manufacturing
- Intelligence in Manufacturing Systems (Neural Nets, Knowledge-based Systems, etc.)
- IT and Communications in Manufacturing
- Manufacturing Control
- Manufacturing Organization
- Manufacturing Planning
- Modeling and Simulation
- Multimedia Applications
- Research Directions for Manufacturing Systems
- Virtual Enterprise
- Virtual Reality in Manufacturing (simulation, VRML, etc.)

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY (ISMT'99)

- Advanced Manufacturing Processes
- Aerospace Manufacturing
- Automation in Agriculture
- Clean Manufacturing
- Collaborative and Distributed Design
- Computer Aided Design
- Computer Aided Manufacture
- Construction as a Manufacturing Process
- Design of Manufacture and Assembly
- Electronics Manufacture
- Forming of Engineering Materials
- Industrial Automation
- Industrial Laboratory Automation
- Intelligent Automation and Soft Computing
- Intelligent Manufacturing
- Manufacturing Process Control
- Materials in Manufacturing (metals, ceramics, polymers, plastic, leather, composites, etc.)
- Measurement and Control
- Mechatronics
- Micro and Nano Scale Manufacturing (MEMS)
- Packaging Technologies
- Process Automation
- Rapid Prototyping
- Research Directions for Manufacturing Technology
- Robotics
- Special Cutting Processes
- Technology for Integrating Manufacturing Software Applications

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT (ISMM'99)

- Benchmarking
- Business Process Re-Engineering
- Co-operative Manufacturing
- Education and Training
- Global Product Strategies
- Human Factors in Manufacturing
- Information Management
- International Technology Transfer
- Lean Manufacture
- Logistics
- Manufacturing Re-design
- Operation Strategies
- Product Design
- Product Innovation
- Production Performance Matrics
- Quality (including Statistical Process Control SPC)
- Research Directions for Manufacturing Management
- Supplier Development
- World Class Manufacturing

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM

WMC'99 will include invited plenary talks, academic and industrial workshops, contributed and invited sessions, tutorials and industrial visits.

**************************************

EXHIBITION

The Northern Manufacturing Exhibition at Telewest Arena in Newcastle-upon-Tyne runs in conjunction with WMC'99 and is accessible for the congress participants.

**************************************

PUBLICATION OF PAPERS

Proceedings will be available at the congress in print and on CD-ROM. Selected papers will be considered for publication in leading international journals, including IMechE Proceedings Parts B and I Journal of Engineering Manufacture and Journal of Systems Control Engineering.

**************************************

CONGRESS LOCATION

WMC'99 will be held at the University of Durham, U.K., the third oldest and one of the most prestigious universities in England.

Travelling to Durham is easy. As a key business centre at the heart of the North East of England, it offers excellent links by road, rail, sea and air with the U.K., Europe and beyond.

**************************************

ACCOMMODATION AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

On-site accommodation with private facilities, as well as standard student bedrooms will be available for the delegates at very reasonable rates.

Social activities form part of the congress and will also be available for accompanying persons.

**************************************

CONGRESS ORGANIZATION

WMC'99

General Chair Dr. Mozafar Saadat, U.K.
General Co-Chair Prof. Paul M. Braiden, U.K.
Steering Committee Chair Prof. Saeid Nahavandi, Australia

Symposium Chair Prof. Guy Johnson, USA
Program Chair Prof. Paul M. Braiden, U.K.

Symposium Chair Prof. Hiroshi Makino, Japan
Program Chair Prof. Ernie Appleton, U.K.

Symposium Chair Prof. Mike Gregory, U.K.
Program Chair Prof. Dennis Wilcock, U.K.

ICSC International Computer Science Conventions
P.O. Box 279, Millet AB T0C 1Z0, Canada
Email operating@icsc.ab.ca
URL http://www.icsc.ab.ca/
Fax +1-780-387-4329
Phone +1-780-387-3546

L.Alting, Denmark / R.Benson, UK / B.Bergman, Sweden / P.Braiden, UK / C.Ferguson, Australia / S.Fujii, Japan / T.Fukuda, Japan / M.Gregory, UK / J.R. Hewit, UK / M.Jamshidi, USA / G.Johnson, USA / W.Khalil, France / M.Mansour, Switzerland / C.McLean, USA / J.Mo, Australia / W.Monteith, New Zealand / S.Nahavandi, Australia (Chair) / L.Nemes, Australia / C.Nguyen, USA / S.Pires, Brazil / M. Saadat, UK / P.Schenker, USA / T.J.Tarn, USA / P.Taylor, UK / D.Wilcock, UK

INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

H.Abachi, Australia / M.Abdollahian, Australia / A.Adlemo, Sweden / L.Aguilera, Brazil / M.Ang, Singapore / D. Barnes, New Zealand / H.Beigi, USA / B.Benhabib, Canada / J.Billingsley, Australia / J.Cernetic, Slovenia / T. Chandra, Australia / H.Cho, Korea / A.Goldenberg, Canada / P.Khosla, USA / T.King, UK / A.K.Kochhar, UK / H.Koivo, Finland / R.Kress, USA / R.Lashkari, Canada / V. Lumelsky, USA / K.Maani, New Zealand / A.Maciejewski, USA / C.Maynard, Australia / A.Meghdari, Iran / A.Misra, USA / P.Moore, UK / F.Naghdy, Australia / S.Nahavandi, Australia / P.O'Grady, USA / M.Papageorgiou, Greece / C.Preece, UK / M. Saadat, UK (Chair) / M.Sarhadi, UK / B.Siciliano, Italy / R.Skelton, USA / D. Smith, New Zealand / T.Sobh, USA / D.Tedford, New Zealand / K. Valavanis, USA / A.Villa, Italy / Z.Vukic, Croatia / I.Walker, USA / D.Wilcock, UK / Y.Wong, Singapore / G.Yen, USA

**************************************

CALL FOR PAPERS

Prospective authors are requested to send an extended abstract (or a draft paper of maximum 7 pages) for review by the International Technical Committee. All submissions must be written in English, starting with a succinct statement of the problem, the results achieved, their significance and a comparison with previous work, as well as a list of references.

The submissions should also include

- Title of symposium (ISMS'99, ISMT'99 or ISMM'99)
- Type of paper (regular, demonstration, tutorial or invited)
- Title of proposed paper
- Authors names, affiliations, addresses
- Name of author to contact for correspondence
- E-mail address and fax # of contact author
- Topics which best describe the paper (max. 5 keywords)
- Short c.v. of authors (recommended)

**************************************

SUBMISSION OF PAPERS

The deadline for submissions has been extended to February 15, 1999.

Extended abstracts should be sent either by

Electronic mail (recommended) to
operating@icsc.ab.ca
(Text, PostScript or Word files)

Fax to ICSC Canada
+1-780-387-4329

Airmail or courier (2 copies) to
ICSC Canada
P.O. Box 279
Millet, AB T0C 1Z0
Canada

**************************************

IMPORTANT DATES

It is the intention of the organizers to have the congress proceedings available for the delegates. Consequently, the deadlines below are to be strictly respected

- Extended Submission Deadline February 15, 1999
- Notification of Acceptance March 31, 1999
- Delivery of Full Papers May 15, 1999
- WMC'99 congress September 27-30, 1999

WMC'99 WEB SITE

Full updated information is always available from http://www.icsc.ab.ca/wmc99.htm

**************************************

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information please contact

ICSC International Computer Science Conventions
P.O. Box 279, Millet AB T0C 1Z0, Canada
Email operating@icsc.ab.ca
Fax +1-780-387-4329
Phone +1-780-387-3546

or

Dr. Mozafar Saadat, General Chair WMC'99
School of Engineering and Advanced Technology
University of Sunderland
Edinburgh Building, Chester Road, Sunderland SR1 3SD / U.K.
Email mozafar.saadat@sunderland.ac.uk
Fax +44-191-515-2703
Phone +44-191-515-2867
 

2.3 ISRACAS'99

CALL FOR PAPERS AND PARTICIPATION

SECOND ISRAELI SYMPOSIUM ON COMPUTER-AIDED SURGERY, MEDICAL ROBOTICS, and MEDICAL IMAGING

>>>>> EXTENDED PAPER SUBMISSION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 10 <<<<<

Web site: http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~josko/isracas99.html

ISRACAS'99

Thursday, May 6, 1999

The Hebrew University, Givat Ram Campus Jerusalem, ISRAEL

Sponsored by (confirmed)

Authority for Research and Development, The Hebrew U

Elbit Medical Imaging Ltd

Sofamor Danek

Institute for Computer Science Research, Bar-Ilan

The Leibniz Center, The Hebrew University

(tentative)

The Israeli Ministry of Science and

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Endorsed by International Society of Computer Aided Surgery.

Symposium Organizers

M. Shoham DSc Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology

L. Joskowicz PhD The Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Background

Following the success of the First ISRACAS'98 Symposium, held on May 4th, 1998 at Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, we are pleased to announce the sequel: ISRACAS'99. ISRACAS'98 was attended by 150 registered participants. About a third were clinicians, a third from industry, and a third from non-medical academia. It was a one-day event, which included six internationally renowned invited speakers, 16 oral and poster presentations of refereed papers, and a system demonstration.

Goal

The goal of the Symposium is to convene in Israel clinicians, scientists and engineers actively interested in medical imaging, computer science, and robotics, and their application to the planning, monitoring, and execution of medical surgeries. The Symposium will include survey talks by internationally recognized experts, presentations of contributed papers, panel discussions, and system demonstrations.

Symposium Topics

Relevant research in Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Biomechanics, and Electrical Engineering including but not limited to:

- multimodal image reconstruction and segmentation
- architectures and control for medical robots
- virtual and augmented reality surgery, telesurgery
- image and sensor data registration
- computer-aided diagnosis and preoperative planning
- intraoperative surgical monitoring, support, and planning
- surgical simulators, anatomical modeling, atlases
- safety issues in computer-assisted surgery

- radiology
- orthopaedics and traumatology
- laparoscopy, endoscopy, arthroscopy
- neurosurgery
- cardio-vascular surgery
- minimally invasive surgery
- urology
- maxilofacial surgery and dentistry

Full-length technical papers or extended abstracts (3-5 pages) of surveys, clinical studies, position papers, and panel topics for presentation at the Symposium are solicited. Submissions will be reviewed by members of the local and international program committee. Accepted extended abstracts will be published in a preprints booklet to be distributed to Symposium participants. Authors should send either electronic copies (ASCII, LaTeX, or Postscript) or hard-copies (3 sets) by FEBRUARY 10th, 1999 to the address below.

Exhibitors

An equipment and systems exhibition will also be held in parallel to the lectures. Exhibitors will get a chance to address the audience . If you want to exhibit your system, please contact the organizers.

Invited speakers

• N. Ayache PhD INRIA, France "Medical Image Processing"
• R. Bucholz MD St. Louis U. , USA "Computer-Aided Neurosurgery"
• L. Nolte PhD U. of Bern, Switzerland "Image-Guided Orthopaedic Surgery"
• T. Lueth PhD Humboldt U, Berlin, Germany "Applications of Interactive Robot Systems for Assisted Surgery"

• D. Adam PhD Technion
• M. Berman PhD Biomedicom Ltd
• Y. Charit PhD Technion
• G. Elber PhD Technion
• S. Goldberger MD Meir Hospital
• M. Gomori MD Hadassah Hospital
• P. Itzchak MD Tel Hashomer
• D. Maor PhD Elbit Medical Ltd
• C. Milgrom MD Hadassah Hospital
• A. Simkin PhD Hadassah Hospital
• M. Roffman MD Carmel Hospital
• R. Yagel PhD Biomedicom Ltd

• N. Ayache PhD INRIA, Sophia-Antipolis, France
• R. Bucholz MD St. Louis U., USA
• A. Colchester PhD U. of Kent, UK
• P. Dario PhD Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy
• B. Davies PhD Imperial College, UK
• A. DiGioia MD Shadyside Hospital, Pittsburgh USA
• S. Delp PhD Northwestern U., USA
• E. Grimson PhD MIT, USA
• B. Jaramaz PhD Shadyside Hospital, Pittsburgh USA
• L. Kavoussi MD Johns Hopkins U., USA
• R. Kikinis MD Harvard Medical School, USA
• S. Lavallee PhD TIMC-IMAG, Grenoble, France
• H. Lemke PhD Technische Universitat, Berlin, Germany
• P. Merloz MD Centre Universitaire et Hospitalier Grenoble, France
• R. Mosges MD U. of Cologne, Germany
• L. Nolte PhD U. of Bern, Switzerland
• M. Peshkin PhD Northwestern U., USA
• P. Rabischong MD Montpellier, France
• K. Radermacher PhD Aachen University of Technology, Germany
• D. Stulberg MD Northwestern U., USA
• R.H. Taylor PhD Johns Hopkins U., USA
• J. Troccaz PhD TIMC-IMAG, Grenoble, France
• M. Vannier MD University of Iowa, USA

The Symposium will be held in Jerusalem, in the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University.

Registration

Participants are required to register and pay a nominal fee which entitles them to a copy of the Symposium proceedings and coffee break refreshments.

Early registration: IS 200 (US $55) IS 100 (US $25) for students

(by April 3rd, 1999)

On-site registration: IS 250 (US $65) IS 125 (US $30) for students

We encourage participants to register early, as the number of participants will be limited.

Please e-mail or fax the following information to one of the symposium organizers. The symposium will be held at the faculty of Natural Science,Givat Ram Campus, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

For registration and more information contact:
 

Dr. Leo Joskowicz Institute of Computer Science The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel Phone: +(972)-2-658-6299 FAX: +(972)-2-658-5439 E-mail: josko@cs.huji.ac.il

Prof. Moshe Shoham Department of Mechanical Engineering Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Technion City, Haifa 32000, Isreal Phone: +(972)-4-829-3264 FAX: +(972)-4-832-4533 Email: shoham@tx.technion.ac.il

Check our web site for frequent updates:

---------------------------- cut here ----------------------------------------

ISRACAS'99 REGISTRATION FORM

Second Israeli Symposium on Computer-Aided Surgery, Medical Robotics, and Medical Imaging

Name:

Position:

Institution:

Address:

Phone:

Fax:

E-mail:

Payment: enclose a check to the name of Hebrew University -- ISRACAS'99

Check one

Early registration: __ IS 200 (or US $45) __ IS 100 (or US $22) for students (by April 3rd, 1999)

On-site registration: -- IS 250 (or US $60) __ IS 125 (or US $30) for students

Send, together with your payment to:

Dr. Leo Joskowicz josko@cs.huji.ac.il

Institute of Computer Science,

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem,

Givat Ram Campus,

Jerusalem 91904, Israel,

Fax: +972-2-658-5439.

---------------------------- cut here -----------------------------------------
 

2.4 ICCCP'98 in Oman - Report

ICCCP'98 in Oman

The second International Conference on Communication, Computer & Power was organized at the Sultan Qaboos University near Muscat in Oman with great success.

When I first heard of the preparations for the Conference it seemed to me rather broad in scope. But after I became more familiar with the economy and circumstances there I recognized that it was exactly tailored to the needs of the community there.

The country is rather big, about 300 000 sq. km, with a length of about 1 200 km and with a 1700 km long coastline. The population is 2.5 million. It is a desert country with mountains up to 3000 m high. Naturally, they have some oil too.

Of course they need to build up and develop power and communications infrastructure and use computer support everywhere as much as possible. In so doing the professionals have vital technical experience to report at the conference and they are interested solutions proposed by the foreign participants and invited lecturers. These participants came from all over the world. Education in the third millennium was a topic frequently raised at many panel sessions.

The Conference was held at the university campus about 40 km away from Muscat in the desert. The buildings are built in a homogenous oriental style of architecture. Classes and laboratories are connected beautiful corridors.

There are also student accommodations and housing for professors. No big everyday

Commuting is necessary.

The campus was an appropriate place for the Conference. Besides modern equipped rooms and halls it also enabled lunches and dinners, which were outstanding. The hospitality was fabulous. We were all treated more as guests more than conference participants.

At the conference there was considerable interest in becoming an IEEE member student member. I introduced the IEEE at a panel session and had many private discussions. They are already preparing to organize an IEEE Student Chapter.

ICCCP was covered by IEEE Region 8's conference policy because we want to support meetings in geographical areas where the number of existing events is low.

The organizers promised the third ICCCP at the end of 1999.

2.5 MINE'99

Early announcement - Mine'99

Euroconference on "Sensor systems and signal processing techniques applied to the detection of mines and unexploded ordnance"

The basic themes of the Conference are:

- Ground Penetrating Radar
- Infrared Systems
- Metal Detectors
- Nuclear Methods
- Signal and Image Processing
- Data Fusion
- Novel Methods and Instruments for Demining

Conference Chair: Prof. Leonardo Masotti, e-mail: masotti@ingfi1.ing.unifi.it

Conference Secretariat:
Mrs. Annalisa Mettel
Dept. Electronic Engineering, University of Florence,
Via S.Marta 3, 50139, Firenze, Italy
Tel / Fax+39 55 4796517

e-mail mine99@diefi.die.unifi.it

Organizing Committee:

• Prof Colin Windsor ; e-mail : colin.g.windsor@ccgate.ukaea.org.uk.
• Dr Lorenzo Capineri ; e-mail : capineri@ieee.org
• Mr Gianfranco Mela ; e-mail : abc@abc.florence.it

PREP '99: Postgraduate Research in Electronics, Photonics and Related Fields

Held 5-7 January 1999; UMIST, Manchester, UK

Sponsored by the Institute of Physics; Co-sponsored by the IEEE, the IEE and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

PREP'99 proved to be a highly successful and enjoyable event, which was attended by approximately 120 delegates, most of them postgraduate students. This conference, the first in the PREP series, was specifically developed as a postgraduate student conference, with all the papers having students as first authors and presenters. As such, it was intended to allow many students the opportunity to present their first paper in an environment rather less intimidating than many of the major conferences in electronics. However, it should be said that the overall quality of papers was extremely high, and many of the oral and poster presentations were outstanding. This made the selection of the five prize-winning papers a difficult task! Oral presentations were placed in three parallel tracks covering the broad themes of devices and circuits, photonics, materials and computing, while there were also a large number of posters in the same fields.

The conference also had the privilege of hosting two very distinguished lecturers who gave inspirational and thought provoking talks. Helen Sharman described her experiences as the first UK astronaut/cosmonaut, while Prof. Peter Cochrane of BT Labs gave his thoughts on how technologies of the future will affect society. An excellent atmosphere was helped by a strong social programme, which included a design-and-build competition and a series of transferable skills courses on the first day of the conference, and a dinner at the Granada TV studios in Manchester.

Report by: Dr Stavros Iezekiel
Institute of Microwaves and Photonics
School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
UK

Tel.  +44 (0)113 233 2088 (Office)
        +44 (0)113 233 2070 (Institute)
        +44 (0)113 233 2000 (Reception)
Fax. +44 (0)113 233 2032

email: s.iezekiel@ieee.org

Web: http://www.elec-eng.leeds.ac.uk/

 
3. NEW CHAPTERS

3.1 Computer Society Chapter of the Czechoslovakia Section

Computer Society Chapter of the Czechoslovakia Section has been formed. The effective date of this Chapter formation is 28 December 1998.

Interim Chair:
Jan Hlavicka
CVUT Fel
Technicka 2
Praha 6-16627 Czechoslovakia
email is hlavicka@fel.cvut.cz

 
3.2 Joint Chapter of the Bulgaria Section

Instrumentation and Measurement/Control Systems/Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society joint Chapter of the Bulgaria Section has been formed. The effective date of this Chapter formation is 5 January 1999.

Interim Chair:
Vassil S. Sgurev
PO Box 161
V. S. Gurev
Sofia 1113 Bulgaria
e-mail if any is not known
 

News by:
Tony Davies
Department of Electronic Engineering,
King's College London, Strand, London, England, WC2R 2LS
voice: +44-171-873-2441 fax: +44-171-836-4781
e-mail: tonydavies@kcl.ac.uk or tonydavies@ieee.org
WWW: http://www.eee.kcl.ac.uk/member/staff/a_davies.html