Special announcements

Citation

(1998), "Special announcements", Kybernetes, Vol. 27 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.1998.06727eac.002

Special announcements

Conference notice

International Congress"Cybernetics and Ecology"

Palma de Majorca, 7-10 November 1998

This congress, organised by the Cybernetics Academy "Stefan Odobleja" and the European Association for Bioeconomics Studies, will be held in 1998, from 7-10 November, in Palma de Majorca(Spain) at the Dragan European Foundation.

The main topics will be:

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  general theory of living systems;

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  implications of ecology on life and society;

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  interdependencies between cybernetics and ecology;

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  evolutionary epistemology and bioeconomics.

Key speakers: J. Ramaekers (B), R. Vallée (F), R. Revans (UK), W.H. Pemberton (USA), F.M. Wuketits (A), J. Gowdy (USA).

For further information contact:

Ioana Hoisescu, Scientific Secretary, Cybernetics Academy"Stefan Odobleja", 153 Calea rahorei, Sector 5, Bucharest, Romania Tel: +40 1 335 3719; Fax: +40 1 336 0779.

*Please contact the organisers for late submissions.

International Symposium

VL '98: IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages

1-4 September 1998, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

VL '98 is the Premiere International Conference on visual computer languages. The aim of this symposium is to bring together researchers and industrial professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds to present and discuss their ongoing work on visual communication with computers. We are interested in visual computer languages in the broad sense of the term, ranging from high-level graphical tools for programming professionals, to graphical database query languages, to languages for children to create simulation environments. In past years attendees have come from a wide variety of backgrounds, including human-computer interaction, programming languages theory and practice, psychology of programmers, computer-aided design, multimedia, database systems, geographical information systems, software engineering, and computer science education. We also draw participants from both industry and academia, including students as well as professionals. This year we are particularly interested in increasing attendance from the human psychology community, including human-computer interaction, empirical studies (qualitative as well as quantitative), psychology of programmers, and related fields.

Dr Trevor Smedley, Dalhousie University, Faculty of Computer Science, PO Box 1000, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3J 2X4.Fax: 1-902-492-1517; E-mail: Trevor.Smedley@dal.ca Website: www.cs.dal.ca/~smedley/vl98

Call for papers

Papers are invited on the topics outlined and others falling within the general scope of the Conference. Three copies of an abstract (of no more than 300 words), should be submitted to the Conference Secretariat as soon as possible.

Sixth International Conference ­ OPTI 99 ­ Computer Aided Optimum Design of Structures

16-18 March 1999, Orlando, Florida, USA

Objectives

The practical applications of structural optimisation techniques which are well recognised by industry offer important advantages in the design of aircraft and are used in the analysis of automotive, civil and mechanical engineering components.

Computer-aided structural design is enhanced by adding optimisation software and its influence cannot be over-emphasised. By linking both techniques, integrated packages for structural optimisation are obtained. These packages provide a means to find solutions for some of the most difficult problem challenges in engineering.

The objective of this Conference is to bring together researchers and engineers in order to communicate recent advances in structural optimisation, and also to demonstrate how optimisation can be applied in engineering practice.

The previous five international conferences OPTI 89, OPTI 91, OPTI 93, OPTI 95 and OPTI 97 were very successful and were attended by many international delegates representing universities, private and public research centres, in addition to industrial users of optimisation methods.

Conference themes

The Conference will welcome the submission of papers on any of the themes listed below and on others that fall within the scope of the Meeting. Please indicate the topic most relevant to your abstract:

*	Design optimisation	*	Testing of optimisation
*	Shape optimisation	*	Analytical advances in optimum
*	Expert systems and knowledge-based		design
	optimisation	*	Methods for large and continuum
*	Materials selection and topographical		structures
	changes in optimum design	*	Optimisation and supercommuting
*	Design of FEA/BEM adaptive grids	*	Optimal control of structures
*	Design sensitivity analysis in linear and	*	Approximation methods in
	non-linear structures		structural optimisation
*	Optimisation in reliability-based design	*	New methods for numerical optimisation
*	Optimisation and technical codes	*	Biomedical applications

Integrated packages for optimum design

Contact Secretariat Liz Kerr, OPTI 99, Wessex Institute of Technology, Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst, Southampton SO40 7AA, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 1703 293223 Fax:+ 44 (0) 1703 292853 E-mail: liz@wessex. ac.uk

Call for papers

Papers are invited on the topics outlined and others falling within the general scope of the Conference. Three copies of an abstract (of no more than 300 words), should be submitted to the Conference Secretariat as soon as possible

Ninth International Conference: Computational Methods and Measurements ­ CMEM 99

27-29 April 1999, Sorrento, Italy

Organised by the University of Naples and Wessex Institute of Technology, UK

Objectives

The conference provides a forum for the review of the latest work on interaction between numerical methods and experimental measurements. It is unique in this field and is now well established following the success of the first eight meetings.

Experimental measurements and computer models

While computer models have been increasingly successful in simulating an ever widening range of engineering problems, it is nevertheless essential that advances in these models are validated and verified against experiment.

Experimental measurements are themselves conditioned to the requirements of the computational models. Hence it is important that scientists working on experiments communicate with researchers developing computer codes as well as those carrying out measurements on prototypes. The orderly and progressive concurrent development of all these fields is essential for the progress of engineering sciences.

Conference topics

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  Experimental versus analytical or numerical models

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  Interaction of computer codes and experimental models

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  Material property characterisation through numerical models and experiments

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  Computer interaction and control of real-time experiments, interface with computational models

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  System implementation for data acquisition and processing phases.

For further information contact: Conference Secretariat, CMEM 99,Wessex Institute of Technology, Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst, Southampton SO40 7AA, UK.Tel: 44 (0) 1703 293223; Fax: 44 (0) 1703 292853; E-mail:

Call for Papers

Online Information 98

8-10 December 1998

The Call for Papers has been issued for Online Information 98, the largest information industry event in the world, taking place from 8-10 December 1998 at the National Hall & Olympia Conference Centre in London. The 1997 conference attracted nearly 850 delegates, a large percentage of whom were from overseas.

The organisers of Online Information 98, Learned Information, are currently looking for speakers from all sectors to present papers on current issues relating to the online industry.

Themes of the Online Information 98 conference are:

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  Who are the new consumers?

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  Online information: educating the new generation

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  Bringing content to the Web

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  Web versus online: how do search services compare?

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  New distribution models

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  Libraries and the Web: where do we stand?

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  Finding a role within knowledge management

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  Knowledge management: the enabling technologies

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  Filling the Intranets

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  The creation of virtual communities

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  Linking full-text on the Web

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  New technologies, new tools

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  Consolidation or evolution? The development of the information industry

The subjects outlined under the themed headings listed above are guidelines from which a coherent structure for the conference programme will be developed. Offers of papers which cover themes not suggested under these headings but which are of relevance to the online industry are equally welcomed.

The mainstream conference will be complemented once again this year with several high quality and specifically focused satellite workshops and seminars.

Online Information 98 will provide a forum for the world's key information professionals and the growing number of end-users interested in information strategy and implementation. This is a chance to meet and discuss future developments in content and the impact of technology within all industry sectors.

The full "Call for Papers" can be found on the Online Information 98 Web site at www. online-information.com or contact Catherine Graham, Conference Coordinator on Tel: +44 (0) 1865 388064.

For further information on Online Information 98, please contact: Alison Smith, Learned Information Europe Ltd, Woodside, Hinksey Hill, Oxford OX1 5BE, UK.Tel: +44 (0) 1865 388000; Fax: +44 (0) 1865 736354; E-mail: alison_smith@learned.co.uk