Previous Meetings Research Articles

As CFC Ban Quietly Comes Into Force, Attention Turns To Other Concerns

The Dec. 31 deadline for ending production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in industrialized countries is now just four weeks away. But this final phaseout of chemicals considered indispensable only a few years ago is causing remarkably little tension. Plenty of other issues related to protecting Earth's ozone layer are sparking anxiety, however. The parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, meeting this week in Vienna, are struggling to reach a consensus on a variety of proposals affecting both developed and developing countries. Unlike previous meetings, where the outcome of most questions was settled well in advance of the formal sessions, this time opposing factions were unable to negotiate compromises at preliminary talks. For example, the European Union (EU) is pressing to accelerate the phaseout of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) that are now substituting for CFCs. More stringent controls on the pesticide methyl bromide are under debate. And controversy swirls arou...

Cyclosporin A: analytical methodology and factors affecting therapeutic drug monitoring.

The majority of centres measuring cyclosporine have followed the advice of previous consensus meetings. Although most measurements are made using assays with a high specificity for the parent compound, there are still some between-method differences that can be attributed to methodological variables, such as antibody specificity and assay calibration. With experience of cyclosporine therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) now spanning 15 years, it would be reasonable to infer that the subject is incapable of growth. However, continued interest in the pharmacokinetics of cyclosporine, the introduction of a new formulation of the drug, and the development of new immunosuppressive agents all combine to emphasise the still incomplete extent of our knowledge in this field.

Introduction to the Special Section

I F we consider Zuse’s Plankalktil the first programming language, research on computer languages is about half a century old now. During this period, languages have always been in the mainstream of computer science research. The focus of the research has perhaps shifted somewhat from efficiency (1950s) to expressivity (196Os), portability (197Os), and handling complexity (198Os), but the interest in languages never declined. At present, language designers and implementors. are faced with new challenges, for example, exploiting novel (parallel and distributed) architectures and supporting new programming methodologies like object-oriented programming. The IEEE Computer Society International Conference on Computer Languages (ICCL) brings together people working on many different aspects of programming languages, specification languages, and other kinds of computer languages. ICCL has a broad scope covering theoretical and practical work, general-purpose languages and application-specific languages, and language design as well as implementation. ICCL ‘94 is the fifth of the series of bi-annual conferences sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Computer Languages (TCCL). As in the previous meetings, ICCL’94 strived to further its commitment to quality and diversity. The broad scope and the international character of ICCL are confirmed once again by the diverse submissions from all parts of the globe. One hundred and thirteen papers were submitted to ICCL’94, from 24 different countries. Twenty five papers were selected for presentation at the conference. In addition, the program contained two invited talks and two panel sessions. In the first invited talk, Robert Dewar addressed language evaluation, and in the second invited talk, Patrick Cousot addressed higher order abstraction. The papers in this issue cover the best software engineeringrelated work presented at ICCL’94. The initial selection was done by the ICCL’94 program committee and conference chairman, in cooperation with TSE. Each selected ICCL’94 paper was improved substantially by the authors and then resubmitted to TSE. The papers were again formally refereed. The four accepted papers deal with issues ranging from lan-

Seismoacoustic modeling of thin sedimented regions in the mid-Atlantic ridge

In several previous meetings results have been reported comparing computer generated acoustic simulations with reverberation data taken from the mid-Atlantic ridge region during the 1993 Acoustics Experiment (‘‘Site A, Seg 076’’ from the ONR Acoustic Reverberation Special Research Program). The acoustic simulations used representations of the rough, range-dependent ocean sediment/subbottom bathymetry that were generated by geomorphology models (the Webb–Jordan sediment distribution model and the Goff–Jordan fractal seafloor/basement model). A modified version of the Collins FEPE2WAY model was used for the long-range reverberation predictions. The simulated backscatter signal (210–280 Hz) compared favorably, in structure and level, with the reverberation data. In this study the same PE model is used to propagate the incident field to a thin sedimented region of interest. This field is then used as the initial field to the FFRAME and SAFE models to study the seismoacoustic influence of the thin sedimented regions on reverberation. Results will be presented that indicate the effects that shear waves and shear wave attenuations have on the reverberation. [Work supported by Office of Naval Research, Acoustic Reverberation SRP, and a High Performance Computing DoD Shared Resource Center grant.]

UPEC '94 Review

The twenty-ninth Universities Power Engineering Conference (UPEC `94), held September 14--16, 1994, at University College, Galway, Ireland, surpassed all previous meetings in respect of number and quality of technical content of the papers and number of delegates attending. As in the past, it had a broad theme, covering all aspects of electrical power engineering, and was attended by academics, research workers, and members of the power service and manufacturing organizations. During the sessions, 265 papers from more than 30 countries were debated. There were 27 technical sessions, 3 poster sessions, and an opening and a closing session, 160 papers being presented orally in four groups of parallel sessions, the remainder being presented in poster sessions. The high standard of the papers, presentations, and technical discussions was particularly gratifying. The Universities Power Engineering Conference, held annually, provides a forum for the exchange of ideas among practicing engineers from the universities, consultants, and in the manufacturing and supply industries.

Previous Meetings and Presidents of the ESPE

Previous Meetings and Presidents of the ESPE

Succeedings of the seventh international workshop on software specification and design

Succeedings of the seventh international workshop on software specification and design

Report on J. Med. C.A.T.

Mediterranean Days of Calorimetry and Thermal Analysis was held at Corsican Corte from 12 to 16 of September 1993, at the University of Corsica Paoli. More than 200 participants (professors, researchers, professionals and aspirants) took part in this excellent conference in the heart of the Corsican mountains for 5 days. At previous scientific meetings it was projected that the Italian associations AICAT and GICAT, Spanish association GECAT and the French one would be called to the same manifestation. This scientific project would signify the salutation to the (new) EUROPE. Thus, after several fruitful meetings and discussions of representatives of associations, the principle of Mediterranean Days of Calorimetry and Thermal Analysis was accepted by everyone, and expressing the Mediterranean dimension to this unique manifestation, the application of University of Corsica was accepted. This University, in Corsica, was founded in 1765 by Pasquale Paoli, father of Corsica, a true leader of the country. In 1768 it was closed until 1981, when the doors were reopened again. So today it is a young university, working on establishing educational and research institutes. Actually 3000 students follow the studies on 3 faculties: Law and Economy, Literature and Human Sciences and Technical Sciences. Technological Institute of University has 3 departments. Reception of researchers of the International Community was a great honour for this young university, and all the Corsican region. The Congress gives concrete evidence of the maturation of the university, like professor A. F Bernardini, the President of the University emphasized in his speech at the opening ceremony. The statistical data are as follows:

Previous Meetings and Presidents of the ESPE

Previous Meetings and Presidents of the ESPE

Societa' Italiana di Scattering di Neutroni holds first meeting

Abstract On February 24 and 25, 1994, the annual meeting of the Italian Neutron Users took place together with the first meeting of the one-year old Italian Neutron Scattering Society (SISN). Because of this happy circumstance, more emphasis was given to political aspects of the development of the Italian neutron community than was done at previous meetings, when the scientific contribution was more important.

The importance of antigenic variation in vaccine design.

It is an honor for me to give the Keynote Address at the Third International Symposium on Positive Strand RNA Viruses because I am following two major figures in positive strand RNA virus research. The Keynote Addresses at the two previous meetings were given by David Baltimore in 1986 and Paul Kaesberg in 1989. The first of these addresses was a highly detailed description of the genetics of poliovirus. The second was rather more philosophical and historical, pointing out important relationships between the animal and plant viruses coming under the general umbrella of positive strand RNA viruses, but stopping at events before 1975.KeywordsTobacco Mosaic VirusAntigenic VariationParent VirusVaccine DesignViral Protein VaccineThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

A public sphere in Amazonia? the depersonalized collaborative construction of discourse in Xavante

What are the discourse presuppositions of the Habermasian public sphere? The present article explores this question by comparing the Western philosophy of language with the political discourse practices of the Xavante Indians of central Brazil. Specifically, it focuses on the relationships among discourse, the individual, and the collectivity. Discursive practices in Xavante men's council meetings pragmatically represent discourse as an emergent intersubjective production. Elaborate co‐performances that incorporate both participant commentary and the discourse of previous meetings oppose the principle of negativity to that of notability. Speech performances effectively detach individuals from the content of their speech, counteracting Xavante factionalism and promoting social cohesiveness as well as egalitarian relations among senior males. Simultaneously, speech practices recreate and reinforce age‐ and gender‐based relations of dominance. [discourse, co‐performance, factional politics, principles of negativity and notability, philosophy of language, Brazilian Indians]

The Chemistry of the Platinum Group Metals

Organised by the Dalton Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the fifth International Conference on the Chemistry of the Platinum Group Metals was held at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, on 11th to 16th July 1993. Previous meetings in this series have been held in Bristol (1981), Edinburgh (1984), Sheffield (1987) and Cambridge (1990). More than four hundred delegates from thirty-three countries, attended the meeting for a programme of forty-two lectures and over two hundred poster presentations.

The influence of stress, vowel, and juncture cues on segmentation

Cutler and Norric [JEP:HPP 14, 113–121 (1988)] proposed a segmentation strategy based on strong syllables. According to their strategy, a listener attempts lexical access every time a strong syllable is heard. In a word monitoring task, Cutler and Norris found support for this strategy with speakers of British English. However, in the Cutler and Norris experiments, the strong syllables used were characterized by strong stress, a tense vowel, and the possible presence of allophonic cues to word junction. Thus the relative roles of these cues in segmentation is still to be determined. As reported at previous meetings of the Acoustical Society, Yerkey and Sawusch [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91, 2338(A) (1992), J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 92, 2443(A) (1993)] examined this issue by separating syllable stress and vowel color in an attempt to determine their relative roles as cues to segmentation. The results of these experiments suggest that, for American English, syllable stress is a primary cue for segmentation, and vowel c...

Chairman's report: African Elephant Specialist Group/Rapport des Presidents du GSEA

Reviews the November 1992 meeting of the AfESG, which was the first meeting subsequent of the separation of the elephant and rhino speicalist groups, noting the special aerial and ground survey as well as the regional working group sessions and the papers presented. Notes the change of focus in the discussion which at this meeting often dealt with the human/elephant conflict which is arising in place of the elephant survival/poaching pressure which has dominated discussions of most previous meetings.

ELAG 92: report of the library systems seminar on interlibrary lending in networks

The 16th ELAG (European Library Automation Group) meeting took place in Ravenna, 1–3 April 1992. As usual the seminar comprised papers on a specific theme, round table discussions of developments in various countries and workshops on particular topics. The seminar, namely ILL in networks attracted about 90 colleagues from 21 European countries. Compared to previous meetings 50% more colleagues attended and 30% more countries were represented. The host country, Italy, sent the most extensive delegation, namely 15 persons, and Norway was represented by 11 members. It was a pleasure to welcome colleagues from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. The Spanish delegation was remarkably strong with six representatives.

ASEAN´S Singapore Rendezvous: Just Another Summit?

The 1992 ASEAN Summit does not appear to he just another summit as it produced much more than the two previous meetings of heads of government. Perhaps because the leaders felt compelled to deal with major changes in the regional order, as they did at the first summit in 1976, this session may in time come to be viewed as a watershed rivaJJing the first gathering. But while time must pass to evaluate the significance of these new directions, such decisions reveal that ASEAN leaders continue to base agreements on their time-tested principles of pragmatism and accommodation.

Previous Meetings and Presidents of the ESPE

Previous Meetings and Presidents of the ESPE

Soviet Efforts To Attract Foreign E and P Investment Through Joint Ventures

This paper reports that since 1987, Soviet efforts to attract Western E and P investment have been evolving through the framework provided by the 1987 Joint-Venture Law. While this law and dozen or so regular acts, decrees, and amendments have sought to stimulate interest, they have failed to address significant failings in the Soviet Union's institutional organization of the petroleum industry. While we anticipate that institutional authority will continue to devolve away from the All-Union central control in Moscow to the republican authorities, many obstacles to investors still have not been addressed by the joint-venture laws. Among these are the export regime, fiscal regime (which we expect will get stiffer), and the rules for joint-venture capitalization and valuation.

Analysis of the acoustic scattering from large aspect ratio, axisymmetric shells

The development of theoretically sound, “exact” numerical solutions to the scattering from spheroidal shells is important both to establish a nontrivial benchmark and to establish those salient features that may be characteristic of a larger class of more complicated, but related geometries. In previous meetings [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 83, S94 (1988); 82, S49 (1987)], the predictions of the spheroidal‐coordinate based transition matrix formalism was validated for such targets by a direct comparison with experimental measurements of the backscattered form function of a copper prolate spheroidal shell for general angle of incidence. In these studies, a number of open questions emerged pertaining to the prominent elastic features of the form function of the shell. These questions are revisited here and the elastic response of the shell in terms of the modes of a fluid‐loaded, infinite cylindrical shell is analyzed. In this work, it is particularly useful to study the evolution of the scattering as the thick shell limit is approached with reference to the scattering solution (and modes) of a solid elastic target. By examining the evolution of the prominent features of the scattering solution, the evolution of the underlying modes of the system can be inferred. This evolution shows a strong analogy to the evolution of the modes of a spherical shell presented previously.