Raffy's World in Multiply.Com

.My readers may notice that I sometimes combine my blog entries in Raffy's World (Random Notes, Random Thoughts) with links to my site in Multiply (http://booleanlogic.multiply.com/).

Today (6/30/08) I searched for a lay-out that would match my underwater photo for my Multiply site. I found one -- the Tubbattaha Reef lay-out. So, now my site in Multply has a new look :) . Found in Palawan, Philippines the Tubbattaha Reef is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Philippines.

Cheers,

Raffy
6/30/08

Table of Contents: June 2008

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Click here to view the table of contents for the month of June 2008.
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Hourly Weather Update (Manila Observatory, Ateneo de Manila University)

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The Manila Observatory of Ateneo de Manila University provides an hourly weather update. See link below:

http://www.observatory.ph/resources/met2/mo_met.php

From,

Raffy
6/30/08

Activities, 6/30/08

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Here are my activities today (30 June 2008) as documented in Twitter (http://www.twitter.com). Note: Click on the image to see a larger view.

Cheers,

Raffy
6/30/08

Invitation: Environmental Leadership Forum

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Figure Caption: Satellite images of a recent typhoon in the Philippines. Source: www.inquirer.net

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Note: Last Friday, 27 June 2008, I received an invitation from the Manila Observatory for me to attend the inaugural S. C. Johnson - Ateneo de Manila University Environmental Leadership Forum. Below are some information.

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Dear Sir/Madam:

Environmental issues have become one of the major concerns of our time. Indeed, today there are quite a number of meetings and events which deal with these issues.

Amidst all of these activities, there is an urgent need to develop new ideas and paradigms regarding the environment.

It is for this purpose that S.C. Johnson Philippines and the Ateneo de Manila University have established the S.C. Johnson-Ateneo Environmental Leadership Forum.

The Forum seeks to provide a venue for the development of new innovative ideas on the environment and sustainable development which are based on expert knowledge and insightful analysis.

Each year, the Forum will invite noted individuals or groups, which have shown leadership in environmental research, management, education or advocacy, to present new ideas or ways of thinking regarding environmental issues.

The presentation will be complemented by reactors from recognized leaders from business and industry, government,academe and civil society.

On July 3, 2008, 3:00 -- 5:30 pm, we will be holding our first S.C. Johnson-Ateneo Environmental Leadership Forum on the topic:"Perfect Storms: What should the Philippines do about Climate Change?"

The presenters are recognized experts in the field: Fr. Jose Villarin, S.J., PhD (Atmospheric Physics) and President of Xavier University, Antonio La Viña, PhD(Environmental Law) and Dean of the Ateneo School of Government, and Antonia Yulo Loyzaga, (Masters in Government) and Executive Director of the Manila Observatory. The Forum will be held at the Leong Hall, Ateneo Loyola Heights, Q.C.

We will be inviting a multi-sectoral audience from business and industry, national agencies and local government units, universities and high schools, and non-governmental organizations.

You may view the program and other information about the Forum at our website: www.ateneo.edu/scjohnson-envforum.

We would like to invite you to attend the Forum and share your ideas.

As seatswill be limited, please confirm your attendance no later than the morning of June 30, 2008 (Monday) through any of the following:

Telephone: (02) 426-6001 extension 5650; or E-mail: jaraneta@ateneo.edu

Please give ample travel time to the venue as heavy traffic is expected at the time of the forum.

Registration begins at 2:30PM.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the forum!

Sincerely yours,

(Signed) FABIAN M. DAYRIT, Ph.D.
Dean, School of Science and Engineering

-- MANILA OBSERVATORY
Ateneo de Manila Campus
Loyola Heights, Quezon City
Tel: (63-2)426-5921 up to 23
Fax: (63-2)426-6141
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Call For Nominations: Election of Officers of the SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) East Asia Section

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Dear Members of the East Asian Section of SIAM:

EASIAM (http://www.math.hkbu.edu.hk/easiam/) is pleased to announce a call for nomination for the election of the officers of the Section in between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2010.

The officers include a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary and a Treasurer (The Secretary and Treasurer will usually be combined into a single office.)

The officers must be SIAM members.

Nominations for officers of the Section should be made to the Secretary of EASIAM, Michael Ng (mng@math.hkbu.edu.hk) no later than 15 August 2008.

A seconder is required for each nomination. All information concerningnominations and election can be found in the Rules of Procedure of the EASIAM which can be found at: http://www.math.hkbu.edu.hk/easiam/ROP.pdf

In order to be considered as a candidate, the nominee, besides havingthe support of two members in the nomination, will be asked via email to personally accept the nomination.

If the nominee cannot becontacted via email then the nomination will not be considered.

The acceptance of the Nomination must include:

* Full name
* E-mail address
* Organization
* Country/Region
* A Curriculum Vitae (no more than 500 words long)

Nominations for a nominee must include:

* Name, e-mail and organization of the persons doing the nominationand the seconder

* Name of the person being nominated

Yours Sincerely,

Michael Ng
The Secretary of EASIAM
East Asia Section of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)
E-mail: mng@math.hkbu.edu.hk

Relayed by

Rafael Saldaña
Philippine Representative
EASIAM Committee
E-mail: raffysaldana@gmail.com

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My Thoughts on the Manny Pacquiao vs. David Diaz Boxing Match, 6/29/08

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Caption: Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao KO'd Mexican David Diaz during their title match in Las Vegas, USA today, 29 June 2008.

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So, what is Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao doing in my "academic" blog?

Well, today I was supposed to visit my parents in our house in Bacoor, Cavite; however, as I was preparing to drive from my condominium unit in Quezon City to Bacoor, it started raining, so I decided to watch tv while waiting for the rain to stop.

Then, I recalled that today (Sunday) was the Manny Pacquiao vs. David Diaz boxing title match (WBC Lightweight Title).

Since I was online, I checked my Twitter updates and lo! and behold my colleague Rommel Feria (Rom) has reported that Pacquiao won by KO (knock-out) during the ninth round.

When I checked the Philippine Inquirer Online I read a report that Pacquio indeed won by KO in the ninth round while the match was just being played on Channel 7 (GMA) tv.

Having known who already won I just amused myself with taking photos of the event (on my flatscreen tv) using using my digital camera :)

I congratulate Manny Pacquiao for winning the title match against the Mexican boxer David Diaz. Manny made history by becoming the new World Boxing Council lightweight champion and the first Asian to earn four world titles in four weight classes.

Having said that, I would like to say also that I am not a boxing fan and I do not particularly like this "bloody" sport. In fact, many people consider boxing as a "barbaric" sport. However, it is interesting to note that boxing is one of the very few sports where Filipinos excel.

Being a sports champion Manny Pacquiao should bear mind that he must strive to be a good role model to Filipinos especially the Filipino youth.

Being an academic, I wish that Filipinos could also excel in mental olympiads such as the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) and the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). To date, the Philippines has never won a gold medal in the IMO and has not even won any medal in the IOI. I also wish that someday, a Philippine team will win the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest - the most prestigious programming competition in the world.

Since I am in my DREAM mode I also wish that someday a Filipino scientist will win a Nobel Prize (in physics, chemistry, medicine or economics).

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Of course, it will help a lot if the Philippine government will support young Filipino talents in international science and mathematics competitions the way it is supporting Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao (with a reported entourage of 60 (?) Filipino politicians and their families tagging along with the official state visit of the Philippine president Gloria Macapacal-Arroyo amidst the recent calamities -- typhoon and sea disaster tragedies -- besetting the nation).

Well, back to reality.... CONGRATULATIONS, Manny Pacquiao!

Cheers,

Raffy
6/29/08

Lecture Notes in Ma 20 (Calculus): Marginal Cost as a Derivative, 6/30/08

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Lecture Notes in Ma 20 (Calculus for Economics)
30 June 2008


Topic: Marginal Cost as a Derivative

Suppose that a firm which makes electric light bulbs knows that in order to produce q light bulbs it will have to pay out C(q) dollars in wages, materials, overheads and so on. We say that C is the firm’s cost function.

In this case a change in production from q to q + 1 light bulbs is relatively small, and may be described as ‘marginal’. The corresponding increase in cost is C(q + 1) – C(q), and this can be thought of as the ‘marginal cost’ of making one more lightbulb, when the level of production is q. In the delta notation, we see that the marginal cost is the change delta C corresponding to a change delta q = 1. In general, the relationship between delta q and delta C is given by the approximation

delta C is approximately equal to C’(q) delta q

and so on, when delta q = 1, the resulting delta C is approximately C’(q) . For this reason it makes sense to define the marginal cost function to be the derivative of the cost function C.

(Note: In the traditional language of economics, the derivative of any function F is referred to as the marginal of F, and is often denoted by MF.)

What we have shown is that if the units are small, as for example in the production of light bulbs, C’(q) represents the cost of producing one more unit when the q units are being produced. The concept of marginal cost is equally useful when the units are larger, provided we remember this basic idea.

EXAMPLE:

Suppose that the costs of a firm making bicycles are $50,000 per week in overheads and $25 for every bicycle made. Then its cost function (in dollars) is

C(q) = 50,000 + 25q

So that C’(q) = 25

In this case the marginal cost is 25 dollars, independent of the level of production q.

Slightly more realistically, suppose that in order to produce a substantially larger weekly output of bicycles it would be necessary for the firm to incur extra costs, possibly because its increased consumption of a raw material would drive the price of that raw material upwards.

We can account for this by introducing an additional cost term, say 0.001q^2, which is trivial when q is small but which is more significant as q increases. In this case we have

C(q) = 5000 + 25q + 0.001q^2

So that

C’(q) = 25 + 0.002q

Thus the marginal cost is $25.2 if the output is 100 bicycles per week, but it would rise to $45 if the output were 10,000 bicycles per week.

Reference:

Martin Anthony and Norman Biggs (1996). Mathematics for Economics and Finance. Cambridge University Press, pp. 59 - 60.
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Lecture Notes in Ma 20 (Calculus): Sample Word Problem in Economics Involving the Derivative, 6/30/08

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Lecture Notes in Ma 20 (Calculus for Economics)
30 June 2008

Topic:

Sample Word Problem in Economics Involving the Derivative


Suppose that the demand set for cans of salmon is

D = {(q,p) where (p^3)q = 8000} ,

where q is the number of cans (in thousands per week) and p is the price per can in dollars.


a). If p is increased from $20 to $21, what will be the expected fall in sales, approximately?

b). If, on the other hand, production were to be increased from 1000 tins per week to 1100, what would be the expected fall in price?


SOLUTION:

The demand function q and its derivative q’ are

q(p) = 8000p^-3

q’(p) =(8000)(-3)p^-4 = -24000/p^4

a). Therefore when p = 20 and (delta)p = 1 we have

(delta)q is approximately equal to (-24000)/p^4)(delta)p = -24009/20^4 = -0.15

Remembering that the units are thousands of cans, it follows that 150 fewer cans will be sold per week.

b). In letter b, we have to consider p as a function of q, and so we need the inverse demand function and its derivative:

(p^3)q = 8000

p^3 = 8000/q

p = cuberoot of (8000/q)

p = 20q^(-1/3)

p’(q) = (-1/3)(20)q^(-4/3) = (-20/3)q^(-4/3)

So when q = 1 and (delta)q = 0.1 we have

(delta)p is approximately equal to [(-20/3)q^(-4/3)](0.1) = -2/3 or approx. 0.67

The conclusion is that the price falls by about 67 cents.

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Reference: Martin Anthony and Norman Biggs (1996). Mathematics for Eonomics and Finance. Cambridge University Press, pp. 57 - 58.
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Happy Anniversary, Raffy's World (Random Notes, Random Thoughts)

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Caption: ClustrMaps shows that Raffy's World (Random Notes, Random Thoughts) has a worldwide readership which includes those from five continents: Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia (and New Zealand), North America and South America.

Today (28 June 2008) marks the first year anniversary of my blog, Raffy's World (Random Note, Random Thoughts).

I started my blog on 28 June 2008 with an entry, "Nth Attempt at Blogging."

Let me recall it:

"
Thursday, June 28, 2007

Nth Attempt At Blogging

There is something about "blogging" that attracts thousands of people, including myself. However, I can't seem to persevere in this activity. I wish I could. Well, there is no harm in trying...To my readers, welcome to "Raffy's World...(Random Notes, Random Thoughts)"! I hope that you get informed and be entertained too by reading my articles in this BLOG.

Cheers,

Raffy Saldaña

Posted by Rafael P. Saldaña, Ph.D. at 8:49 PM
"

It feels wonderful to have persevered in blogging. Now, blogging is a hobby for me. I do it in the morning while watching the morning news on tv or at night. Sometimes I do it as a breather in between academic work.

After a year of blogging, my blog statistics show that:

• I have made more than 500 posts in one year; this means that I average about two blog posts per day :)
• My blog has reached about 32,830 hits since I installed a "hit" counter on 21 August 2007.
• ClustrMaps shows that my blog readership is worldwide, covering all the five continents of the world: Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia (and New Zealand), North America, and South America.

Another unique thing about my blog is that it documented my activities during my sabbatical year from Ateneo de Manila University. Now, it will be easier for me to write my sabbatical report :) [ Can I just refer to the blog posts links ??? ]

To celebrate the first anniversary of my blog, Raffy's World (Random Notes, Random Thoughts) [ I wonder how many people in the world celebrate the anniversary of their blogging ??? ] I gave my blog a new look :)

HAPPY 1st ANNIVERSARY !

Cheers,

Raffy Saldaña
6/28/08
http://raffysaldana.blogspot.com

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Bon Voyage, Dr. Noel Cabral

. Photo Caption: Dr. Noel Cabral of Ateneo de Manila University Mathematics Department

Photo Caption: Dr. Rafael Saldaña, Ms. Eulyne Domingo, Dr. Noel Cabral, Dr. Jose Marasigan, and Mr. Karl Mina.

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Today (6/27/08) we had a despedida merienda (ice cream + cake) for Noel (Dr. Noel Cabral). Noel will leave for Singapore on Saturday, 28 June 2008. He will assume a post-doctoral position in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Noel obtained his Ph.D. in Mathematics from NTU. Like me, Noel is also an alumnus of Philippine Science High School (PSHS or Pisay) (Note: Noel belongs to Batch '87 while I am a member of Batch '77) and a faculty member of the Mathematics Department of Ateneo de Manila University.

Bon Voyage, Noel!

Good Luck, Good Health, and God Bless!

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Note: Click on the following link to see more photos taken during Noel's despedida:

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http://booleanlogic.multiply.com/photos/album/137/Noels_Despedida_62708

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Cheers,

Raffy
6/27/08

Video: Pangkat Kawayan (Bamboo Band), Far Eastern University, Manila

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Using bamboo musical instruments, the Pangkat Kawayan (Bamboo Band) of the Far Eastern University (FEU) performed the Philippine National Anthem (Lupang Hinirang) during the opening of the Seminar on Grid Computing and e-Business held on 26 June 2008 in FEU with Dr. Rafael Saldaña of Ateneo de Manila University as guest speaker. The event was organized by the Manila Futurists Society in cooperation with FEU Research Center.

Click on the link below to view a video clip of FEU's Pangkat Kawayan:

http://booleanlogic.multiply.com/video/item/21/FEUs_Pangkat_Kawayan_Bamboo_Band_62608

Related Links:

http://raffysaldana.blogspot.com/2008/06/invitation-special-lecture-on-grid.html

http://raffysaldana.blogspot.com/2008/06/photos-talk-on-grid-computing-far.html

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Photos: Seminar on Grid Computing, Far Eastern University, Manila, 6/26/08

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Photo Caption: (L-R) Prof. Cecilia Anido, FEU Asst. Vice-President for Academic Affairs; Ms. Lei Kalina of the Manila Futurists Society; Dr. Rafael Saldaña of Ateneo de Manila University - Guest Speaker; and Prof. Anabelle Verdote, Director, Center for Studies in the Urban Environment, FEU. Photo taken on 26 June 2008 during the Seminar on "Grid Computing, Cloud Computing, and e-Business: The High Tech Future of Global Business and Computing in the 21st Century" held in Far Eastern University (FEU), Manila, Philippines.
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View more photos of the event by clicking on the following link:

http://booleanlogic.multiply.com/photos/album/134/Talk_on_Grid_Computing_and_E-Business_FEU_62608

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Related Link: http://raffysaldana.blogspot.com/2008/06/invitation-special-lecture-on-grid.html

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Update: 1st EUAsiaGrid Training Event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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Figure Caption: Location Map of MIMOS Berhad, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- venue of the 1st EUAsiaGrid Training Event. Note: Click on the figure to see a larger image.

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EUAsiaGrid Training Event at MIMOS in Malaysia is scheduled from 28 ~31 July 2008.


To help train partners on the effective use and management of the Grid, the first EUAsiaGrid Training Event will be held from 28-31 July 2008 in MIMOS, Malaysia.

This event is designed to teach participants fundamental Grid concepts, how to use gLite for their work and how to install gLite Grid services.

The expected participants would be EUAsiaGrid partners, Asia Federation partners, as well as institutes/organization that are interested in Grid computing or any other collaboration partners.

Lecturers of this training will be from INFN (IT) and ASGC (TW) .

This EUAsiaGrid Training Event will provide the perfect opportunity for network developing with Asian and European communities, and it is believed to enhance infrastructure collaboration and project application, and reinforce the achievement that EUASiaGrid proposes.


About EUAsiaGrid Training Event


EUAsiaGrid Training Event is a four-day training hosted at MIMOS, Malaysia’s leading applied research organisation in information & communication technologies, aimed at growing globally competitive indigenous industries.

This inaugural training will be held from 28 – 31 July 2008 at MIMOS Berhad, Technology Park Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.

The training is to help partners on the effective use and management of the Grid technologies. It is designed to guide participants on fundamental Grid concepts, how to use gLite for their work and how to install gLite Grid services. The targeted participants would be EUAsiaGrid partners, Asia Federation partners, as well as institutes/organisations or any other collaboration partners, who are interested in Grid computing. Trainers will be from Italy’s National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and Taiwan’s Academia Sinica Grid Computing (ASGC).The EUAsiaGrid Training Event will provide the perfect opportunity for network development with Asian and European communities. It is also aimed to enhance infrastructure collaboration and project application, and ensuring achievement of EUAsiaGrid objectives.

Program

Kindly visit: http://indico.twgrid.org/conferenceTimeTable.py?confId=476

Venue

Date: 28 – 31 July 2008
Time: 9.00am – 5.30pm
MIMOS Berhad Technology Park Malaysia 57000
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 603 8995 5000 & 603 8995 5150
Fax: 603 8996 275

Registration

Interested persons please should reply to Wai Keat Ng or Bazli with the following information by 11 July 2008:

• Full Name
• Organisation
• Country
• Corresponding E-mail
• Contact Number

For more information, contact:


Mohammad Fairus Khalid (MIMOS) : fairus.khalid@mimos.my
Vicky Huang (ASGC) : vic@twgrid.org
Jill Lin (ASGC) : jlin@twgrid.org

Trainers' Biodata

Min-Hong Tsai

Min-Hong Tsai is currently serving as the EGEE Asia-Pacific Regional Operation Center manager and Operations team leader at Academia Sinica Grid Computing (ASGC). After receiving his Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tsai has worked in the engineering and telecommunication sectors. He has also gained relevant experience as CERN's technical liaisons to the SEEGRID project and as a member of CERN's Grid Deployment team focusing on operations and monitoring. More recently his work involves coordination of the operations activity at ASGC.

Shu-Ting Liao

Shu-Ting Liao is the deputy manager for Asia-Pacific Regional Operation Center and is responsible providing both regional and global operations technical support for EGEE. Over the last three years Liao has gained extensive experience assisting EGEE Grid sites design, deploy and operate their services. She has be crucial in helping Asia-Pacific increase to 22 production grid sites and at the same time maintaining a high level of service availability for the region.

Giuseppe La Rocca

Giuseppe La Rocca graduated with doctorate in Software Engineering from the University of Catania, Italy. He joined the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) of Catania as a scientific collaborator since 2004 and has been working for NA4 work package in the context of the Enabling Grid for E-sciencE (EGEE) Project until 2006. His main activity was to foster the induction of new users and scientific communities into the project in order to speed up the creation scientific results of particular relevance. During these two years of the project several applications, coming from different scientific domains such us: Astro-Particles Physics, Earth Science Communities, Life Science, have been successfully supported on the grid infrastructure.
From 2006 to 2007 he has been involved in the WP6 of the BIOINFOGRID Project. His main tasks during the project were to foster the training of the bioinformatics community, provide technical support for users and applications and establish relations with other grid projects. Up to April 2008 he was involved in LIBI Project where he developed high level services on the GENIUS Grid portal for bioinformatics community. Starting from May he is involved in EGEE-III project. He is the author of 7 proceedings of international conferences.

Dr. Diego Scardaci

Dr. Diego Scardaci was born in Catania, Italy, in 1975. He obtained Computer Science Engineering degree in the year 2000. Since 2006 he works at INFN Catania. Starting from January 2006, he has been involved in the EUChinaGRID project, funded by the European Commission. In the context of this project, he has been the task leader of the Dissemination of Advanced Grid knowledge activities. He organised many induction courses in China to spread the Grid knowledge in the Asiatic country and he participated to these courses as a tutor. Moreover, he participated as tutor in many induction courses in Europe. He has been involved in the support of the applications working in Grid environment, helping users to port their application in the Grid infrastructure. He organised Grid Schools to create the necessary knowledge for the porting of new applications to the Grid Infrastructure. Now he is involved in EELA-2 project as deputy manager of the JRA1 activity and in EUASIAGRID project.

Visa Information

For complete VISA regulations to enter Malaysia, please visit the website of Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Hotel Accommodation

Participants are recommended to make room reservation with with the following specification,

“MIMOS visitor for Travel & Hotel EUAsiaGrid training” via phone Tel: 603-2296 1188.

CITITEL MID VALLEY, KUALA LUMPUR

Website: http://www.cititelmidvalley.com/
Address: CITITEL MID VALLEY, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Tel: 603-2296 1188 Fax: 603-2283 5551
E-mail:mailto:resvn@cititelmidvalley.com
Enquiries : info@cititelmidvalley.com

Related Link:

EUAsiaGrid Official Website: http://www.euasiagrid.org/
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Event Contacts:

Mohammad Fairus Khalid (MIMOS): fairus.khalid@mimos.my
Vicky Huang (ASGC): vic@twgrid.org
Jill Lin (ASGC): jlin@twgrid.org

Related Link: EUAsiaGrid Website
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BroadCom 2008: Broadband Communications, Information Technology and Biomedical Applications (South Africa)

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3rd International Conference on
Broadband Communications, Information Technology & Biomedical Applications
(BroadCom '08)
November 23-26, 2008
CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa


Call for papers (pdf format, 60KB)

Call for tutorials (pdf format, 26KB)

Call for Papers

South Africa in recent years has continued to create significant excitement in R&D. This excitement is being supported by government, the National Research Fund (NRF), Department of Science and Technology (DST), industry and research organisations with strong collaboration and support from the European Union through its framework programs and the AU. This conference therefore is organised to further report and add impetus to the emerging collaborations and provide researchers the avenue for networking.

In 2008 the International conference on wireless broadband and ultra wideband communication) is being hosted by South Africa with stronger and more broad emphasis. The current emphasis reflects the growing interest in new areas of broadband communications. In 2008 the conference is being co-organised by South Africa's leading research organisations. The core theme of the conference has been expanded to include applications of broadband communications, broadband biomedical applications and biotechnology.

The conference is co-organised by the French South African Technical Institute in Electronics (F'SATIE); Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), South Africa; Meraka Institute, South Africa; University of Technology Sydney, Australia, University of Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Cape Town, South Africa and South African National Centre for Informatics, Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy (SANCIKMKE).

The current research trend reflects the growing interest in new areas of broadband communications. International conference on Broadband Communications, Information Technology & Biomedical Applications (BroadCom' 08) is a major annual international conference to bring together researchers, engineers, developers and practitioners from academia to industry working in multi-disciplinary area and technically converging areas of wireless communication. As a field of explosive growth, development, and application, BroadCom'08 will enable the creation of future broadband wireless communication systems, networks and services. Following the big success of Auswireless 2007 and Auswireless 2006, BroadCom' 08 continues to serve as a forum to aggregate state-of-art researches, ideas, creations, implementations in the fields of Broadband Communications, Information Technology & Biomedical Applications. In 2008 the conference is being co-organised by South Africa's leading research organisations. The core theme of the conference has been expanded to include applications of broadband communications, broadband biomedical applications and biotechnology.

BroadCom 2008 is sponsored and co-organised by the French South African Technical Institute in Electronics (F'SATIE); Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), South Africa; University of Technology Sydney, Australia; River Publisher, Denmark; IEEE; University of Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Cape Town, South Africa.
You are cordially invited to submit papers in all areas of wireless broadband communications, IP networks, services, and applications. All papers submitted to this conference are always peer-reviewed. All accepted papers will be published in the IEEE Xplore digital library and the best papers from the conference will be published as a book of best papers by River Publishers of Denmark (as in 2007). Other short-listed papers will also be published in a special edition of the African Journal of Information and Communication Technology (AJICT). Potential topics are included, but are not limited to the following broad themes and tracks:

Broad Themes:

BROADBAND WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
BROADBAND OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMUNITY WIRELESS ACCESS NETWORKS & IP COMMUNICATIONS
BIOMEDICAL, HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
SECURITY, MANAGEMENT & REGULATIONS
APPLICATIONS & CONTENTS

I. WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS:

MIMO and OFDM techniques
Wireless Mesh Networks
WiMAX
Millimetre Wave Technologies
Millimetre wave Imaging
Ultra wideband communications and systems
Ultra wideband synchronisation
Broadband Antennas and systems
Modulation and coding schemes
4G and B3G MAC protocols
Personal Area Networks (PAN)
Mobility management
Radio resource management
Packet scheduling algorithms
Routing protocols
Vehicular Wireless Networks
Network architecture and topology design
Cross-layer design and optimization
Operations Support Systems (OSS)
Wireless QoS
Multihop and relay networks
Mobile ad hoc networks
Wireless sensor networks

II. OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS:

WDM transmission technologies and systems
Optical cross-connects and optical packet and burst switches
Optical packet, burst and circuit switching networks
Optical access networks - FTTx networks and systems
Hybrid packet and circuit nodes and architectures
Radio over fiber based networks
FTTx networks and systems
Optical grids in access and core
Storage Area Network extensions
Multilayer optical networks (Ethernet, IP, G-MPLS technologies, etc)
Cross-layer design
Optical networking for green information and communications technology
Traffic grooming and processing
Modelling and design of optical networks and systems
Network operations and management
Passive Optical Networks

III. COMMUNITY WIRELESS ACCESS NETWORKS:

Wireless mesh networks (WMN)
Business Models of wireless access networks
Fixed and Mobile WiMAX
IP Services (Voice over IP (VoIP) communications, IPTV, Presence, Mobile TV , SIP-based services)
IP Service Architectures (Parlay, SIP and IMS)
Second Life and Social Networking Softswitching
MPLS and IPv6
Instant Messaging and Presence
Routing and Scheduling
Congestion control and Traffic engineering
Network modelling, measurement and management QoS
Peer-to-peer networks
Content distribution networks
Web and Media technologies
Internet architectures, algorithms, protocols, and services
Internet2

IV. APPLICATIONS & CONTENTS

Sensor networks and ontologies
Sensor monitoring systems
Sensor web, resource and services
Semantic Web
Ontology theory, model and visualisation
Web ontology languages
Video surveillance and sensing
E-Healthcare and health care networks
Intelligent broadband transport networks
Applications of RFID
Interactive Multimedia Systems over IP networks
Multimedia Content Distribution and Management,
Content Personalization in IP-based Applications
Internet Agents/Softbots
Adaptive Agent Systems
Agent Communication and Multi-Agent Systems
E-government, Entertainment and Home Networking
Mobile VoD, SDV, IPTV
Mobile video conferencing
Mobile video gaming
Quality of experience metrics
Video quality measurement
Performance analysis
Encoding and Transport
Wireless video coding techniques
Adaptive media coding

V. SECURITY, MANAGEMENT & REGULATIONS

Detection, mitigation and prevention of SPIT, SPIM, Vishing
Intrusion and anomaly detection and protection for VoIP, NGN and IMS systems
Denial of Service detection and prevention
Security of voice, video and text over IP services
Fraud detection and prevention
Threat and vulnerability analyses of VoIP, NGN and IMS systems
Content security and protection of media flows
Security of VoIP supporting systems
End-to-end security schemes
Inter-provider trust and verification schemes
Emerging security aspects in standards
Management, Resilience and QoS
Management of VoIP infrastructure and services
P2P overlays for future telecommunication systems
Self-healing architectures
Traffic monitoring and QoS measurement of VoIP, NGN and IMS traffic
Monitoring and testing tools for VoIP, NGN and IMS infrastructures
QoS for voice and video
VoIP and IMS system performance, reliability and scalability
Load balancing for VoIP, NGN and IMS systems
High availability solutions for VoIP, NGN and IMS systems
Billing and AAA
Emergency services
Regulatory aspects of IP-based telecommunication systems
Lawful intercept for VoIP, NGN and IMS systems
Inter-connections

VI. BIOMEDICAL, HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Biomedical Applications
BioNets
Medical Imaging and compression
Implantable devices and applications
e-Forensics
Telemedicine
Bioinformatics
Bio-signal processing
Medical Image Processing & Analysis
Knowledge management
Clinical Applications of telehealth (Dermatology, Chronic Disease Management)
Cost benefit analysis of telehealth
Applications of telehealth
Telehealth Technologies and Interoperability
Telehealth networking and interfaces
Image and x-ray Transmission
Health monitoring
Assistive technologies
Storage and display devices
Emerging technologies for rehabilitation
Knowledge management
Demand for telehealth
Web-based telehealth
Database and health information systems
Digital Imaging
Computed Radiology
Computed Tomography
Computing for Human Experience and Wellness
Medical nomadic computing
Ultrasound Imaging
Image Processing
Image and x-ray Compression
Medical Imaging & Molecular Imaging
Data Transmission
Mobile Telemedicine
Tele-homecare & Ubiquitous Healthcare
Tele-presence & Robotics in Healthcare
Rural e-HealthCare Management
Healthcare Cost & Financial Analysis
Context-awareness for smart space in healthcare
IT infrastructures & platforms for remote healthcare
Security and Privacy in healthcare
Navigation Systems for Healthcare
Tele-Rehabilitation and Tele-Physiotherapy
Graphical Visualization & Modelling
Healthcare Industry Applications

Important dates

Tutorial due: 30 April, 2008
Deadline for Technical Papers: 30 June, 2008
Acceptance notification: 30 July, 2008
Final camera ready copy: 21 Aug., 2008
Early-bird Registration Due on: 23 Oct., 2008


Paper submissions

All papers submitted to this conference will be peer-reviewed. All accepted papers will be published in the IEEE Xplore digital library and the best papers from the conference will be published as a book of best papers by River Publishers of Denmark. Other short-listed papers will also be published in a special edition of the African Journal of Information and Communication Technology (AJICT).

Authors are invited to submit draft papers (up to 6 pages with double columns, single space, font size of 10 to 12). Provided manuscripts should be compliant with IEEExplore format. For word or latex templates, please see Information for Authors for more details.

You're cordially invited to submit high-quality manuscripts via our Online Submission System.
Book of Best Papers (2007 Edition) You may now order copy(ies) of the 'extended best papers from the conference' of 2007 being published by River Publishers Denmark. Order now and get a unique 50% discount, the book can be ordered NOW for just Euro 48.50!!

Click here for a quick view of the book turnover template!

Book of Best Papers (2008 Edition) The Best Papers of BroadCom 2008 will also be published in a similar manner.

Announcement: Ma 20 (Calculus), 6/26/08

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To my students in Ma 20 (Calculus for Economists):

1. As we have decided yesterday (6/25/08) the 1st Long Exam was postponed to Tuesday, July 1, 2008.

2. Today's topic includes Example 4, Barnett, p. 193.

3. There will be a graded seatwork on product and quotient rules for differentiation.

4. Today's class (6/25/08) will be handled by Mr. Mike Samson. I will be in Far Eastern University (FEU) as guest speaker on the topic, "Grid Computing, Cloud Computing, and e-Business: The High-Tech Future World of Global Business and Computing in the 21st Century." Click on the following link for more details:

http://raffysaldana.blogspot.com/2008/06/invitation-special-lecture-on-grid.html


Dr. Rafael Saldaña
Teacher
Ma 20, Section A
.

World Scientific Mathematics Newsletter (June 2008)

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From World Scientific and Imperial College Press:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SPECIAL HIGHLIGHTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTATIONAL MATHEMATICS
by Xin-She Yang (University of Cambridge, UK)

http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6867.html

This unique book provides a comprehensive introduction to computational mathematics, which forms an essential part of modern numerical algorithms and scientific computing. It uses a theorem-free approach with just the right balance between mathematics and numerical algorithms. It covers all major topics in computational mathematics with a wide range of carefully selected numerical algorithms, ranging from the root-finding algorithms, numerical integration, numerical methods of partial differential equations, finite element methods, optimization algorithms, stochastic models, to nonlinear curve-fitting and swarm optimization.

Series on Concrete and Applicable Mathematics - Vol. 6TOPICS ON STABILITY AND PERIODICITY IN ABSTRACT DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
by James H Liu (James Madison University, USA), Gaston M N'Guérékata (Morgan State University, USA) & Nguyen Van Minh (University of West Georgia, USA)

http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6870.html

This book presents recent methods of study on the asymptotic behavior of solutions of abstract differential equations such as stability, exponential dichotomy, periodicity, almost periodicity, and almost automorphy of solutions. The chosen methods are described in a way that is suitable to those who have some experience with ordinary differential equations. The book is intended for graduate students and researchers in the related areas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SPOTLIGHT ON THE FIELDS MEDAL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In 1958, the German-born Klaus Friedrich ROTH was awarded the Fields Medal. He solved the famous Thue-Siegel problem concerning the approximation to algebraic numbers by rational numbers and proved in 1952 that a sequence with no three numbers in arithmetic progression has zero density (a conjecture of Erdös and Turán of 1935). For his biography and paper "RATIONAL APPROXIMATIONS TO ALGEBRAIC NUMBERS", please see:http://www.worldscibooks.com/graphics/emailpromotion/fields/1958_Roth.pdf

World Scientific is proud to be the publisher of the Fields Medallists' Lectures (2nd Edition).For more information about this title, click here: http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/5182.html

============================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
============================================================
1. New And Forthcoming Publications in Mathematics
2. Bestsellers of the Month
3. Journal Updates
4. Most DownloadedSample Chapters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. NEW AND FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS IN MATHEMATICS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Numerical & Computational Mathematics **World Scientific Series on Nonlinear Science, Series A - Vol. 62NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF WAVES AND FRONTS IN INHOMOGENEOUS SOLIDSby Arkadi Berezovski, Jüri Engelbrecht (Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia) & Gérard AMaugin (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6931.html

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTATIONAL MATHEMATICSby Xin-She Yang (University of Cambridge, UK)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6867.html** ALGEBRA & NUMBER THEORY **ADVANCES IN ALGEBRA AND COMBINATORICSProceedings of the Second International Congress in Algebra and CombinatoricsGuangzhou, China 2 - 4 July 2007Beijing, China 6 - 11 July 2007Xian, China 12 - 15 July 2007edited by K P Shum (The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong), E Zelmanov (University of California, San Diego, USA), J Zhang (Peking University, China) & S Li (Beihang University, China)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6694.html

** ANALYSIS & DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS **Series on Concrete and Applicable Mathematics - Vol. 6TOPICS ON STABILITY AND PERIODICITY IN ABSTRACT DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONSby James H Liu (James Madison University, USA), Gaston M N'Guérékata (Morgan State University,USA) & Nguyen Van Minh (University of West Georgia, USA)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6870.html

TOPICS IN MATHEMATICAL ANALYSISedited by Paolo Ciatti, Eduardo Gonzalez, Massimo Lanza de Cristoforis (Università di Padova, Italy) & Gian Paolo Leonardi (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy)
http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6806.html

ADVANCED COURSES OF MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS III
Proceedings of the Third International SchoolLa Rábida, Spain 3 - 7 September 2007edited by Juan M Delgado Sánchez (University of Huelva, Spain) & Tomás Domínguez Benavides (University of Seville, Spain)
http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6879.html**

APPLIED MATHEMATICS

**Series on Advances in Mathematics for Applied Sciences - Vol. 76GEOMETRIC CONTROL AND NONSMOOTH ANALYSISedited by Fabio Ancona (Università di Bologna, Italy), Alberto Bressan (Penn State University, USA), Piermarco Cannarsa (Università di Roma "Tor Vergata", Italy), Francis Clarke (Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, France) & Peter R Wolenski (Louisiana State University, USA)
http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6645.html

** GEOMETRY AND TOPOLOGY **Atlantis Studies in Mathematics - Vol. 1TOPOLOGICAL GROUPS AND RELATED STRUCTURESby Alexander Arhangel'skii (Ohio University, USA) & Mikhail Tkachenko (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/l001.html

SELECTED WORKS OF WEN-TSUN WUby Wen-Tsun Wu (Academia Sinica, China)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6727.html

** LOGIC AND SET THEORY **Lecture Notes Series, Institute for Mathematical Sciences, National University of Singapore - Vol. 14COMPUTATIONAL PROSPECTS OF INFINITYPart I: Tutorialsedited by Chitat Chong (National University of Singapore, Singapore), Qi Feng (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China & National University of Singapore, Singapore), Theodore A Slaman, W Hugh Woodin (University of California at Berkeley, USA) & Yue Yang (National University of Singapore, Singapore)

http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6769.html
Lecture Notes Series, Institute for Mathematical Sciences, National University of Singapore - Vol. 15COMPUTATIONAL PROSPECTS OF INFINITYPart II: Presented Talksedited by Chitat Chong (National University of Singapore, Singapore), Qi Feng (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China & National University of Singapore, Singapore), Theodore A Slaman, W Hugh Woodin (University of California at Berkeley, USA) & Yue Yang (National University of Singapore, Singapore)
http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6786.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2. BESTSELLERS OF THE MONTH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Advanced Series on Statistical Science and Applied Probability - Vol. 6ELEMENTARY STOCHASTIC CALCULUS, WITH FINANCE IN VIEWby Thomas Mikosch (University of Groningen)
http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/3856.html

SEMI-CLASSICAL ANALYSIS FOR NONLINEAR SCHRÖDINGER EQUATIONSby Rémi Carles (CNRS & University of Montpellier 2, France)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6753.html

INVARIANT ALGEBRAS AND GEOMETRIC REASONINGby Hongbo Li (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6514.html

ANALYTIC SOLUTIONS OF FUNCTIONAL EQUATIONSby Sui Sun Cheng (National Tsing Hua University, R O China) & Wenrong Li (Binzhou University, P R China)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6755.html

Series on Analysis, Applications and Computation - Vol. 2COMPLEX ANALYSISby M W Wong (York University, Canada)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6807.html

=>For an inspection copy, please email: sales@wspc.comPlease refer to http://www.worldscibooks.com/custserv/textbook_inspect.shtml
for the terms and conditions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. JOURNAL UPDATES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't miss these exciting new issues!Communications in Contemporary Mathematics (CCM)Latest Issue Online: Vol. 10, No. 3 (June 2008)http://www.worldscinet.com/cgi-bin/details.cgi?id=jsname:ccm&type=current

Papers include:MULTIPLE BOUND STATES FOR THE SCHRÖDINGER–POISSON PROBLEMANTONIO AMBROSETTI & DAVID RUIZ (SISSA, Italy)http://www.worldscinet.com/ccm/10/1003/S021919970800282X.html

EQUIVARIANT COHOMOLOGY AND HOLOMORPHIC INVARIANTZUOLIANG HOU (Columbia University, USA)http://www.worldscinet.com/ccm/10/1003/S0219199708002843.html
Journal of Hyperbolic Differential Equations (JHDE)Latest Issue Online: Vol. 5, No. 2 (June 2008)http://www.worldscinet.com/cgi-bin/details.cgi?id=jsname:jhde&type=current

Papers include:AN ALTERNATING EVOLUTION APPROXIMATION TO SYSTEMS OF HYPERBOLIC CONSERVATION LAWSHAILIANG LIU (Iowa State University, USA)http://www.worldscinet.com/jhde/05/0502/S0219891608001568.html
SBV REGULARITY OF ENTROPY SOLUTIONS FOR A CLASS OF GENUINELY NONLINEAR SCALAR BALANCE LAWS WITH NON-CONVEX FLUX FUNCTIONROGER ROBYR (University of Zurich, Switzerland)

http://www.worldscinet.com/jhde/05/0502/S0219891608001544.html
Journal of Knot Theory and Its Ramifications (JKTR)Latest Issue Online: Vol. 17, No. 6 (June 2008)http://www.worldscinet.com/cgi-bin/details.cgi?id=jsname:jktr&type=all

Papers include:COMPLEMENTARY REGIONS FOR MAPS OF SURFACESTAHL NOWIK (Bar-Ilan University, Israel)
http://www.worldscinet.com/jktr/17/1706/S0218216508006348.html

THE VIRTUAL MAGNETIC KAUFFMAN BRACKET SKEIN MODULE AND SKEIN RELATIONS FOR THE f-POLYNOMIALATSUSHI ISHII (Kyoto University, Japan), NAOKO KAMADA (Osaka City University, Japan) and SEIICHI KAMADA (Hiroshima University, Japan)http://www.worldscinet.com/jktr/17/1706/S021821650800635X.html

Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences (M3AS)
Latest Issue Online: Vol. 18, No. 6 (June 2008)
http://www.worldscinet.com/cgi-bin/details.cgi?id=jsname:m3as&type=current

Papers include:ALGEBRAIC TIME DECAY FOR THE BIPOLAR QUANTUM HYDRODYNAMIC MODELHAI-LIANG LI (Capital Normal University, China), GUOJING ZHANG (Harbin Institute of Technology, China) & KAIJUN ZHANG (Northeast Normal University, China)
http://www.worldscinet.com/m3as/18/1806/S0218202508002887.html

EXISTENCE OF GLOBAL WEAK SOLUTIONS TO DUMBBELL MODELS FOR DILUTE POLYMERS WITH MICROSCOPIC CUT-OFFJOHN W. BARRETT (Imperial College London, UK) & ENDRE SÜLI (University of Oxford, UK)http://www.worldscinet.com/m3as/18/1806/S0218202508002917.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4. MOST DOWNLOADED SAMPLE CHAPTERS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADVANCES IN STATISTICAL MODELING AND INFERENCEEssays in Honor of Kjell A Doksumedited by Vijay Nair (University of Michigan, USA)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6298.html

BEYOND BETAOther Continuous Families of Distributions with Bounded Support and Applicationsby Samuel Kotz & Johan René van Dorp (The George Washington University, USA)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/5720.html

ADVANCES IN CODING THEORY AND CRYPTOGRAPHYedited by T Shaska (Oakland University, USA), W C Huffman (Loyola University, USA), D Joyner (US Naval Academy, USA) & V Ustimenko (The University of Maria Curie Sklodowska, Poland)http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/6464.html

NONCOMMUTATIVE CHARACTER THEORY OF THE SYMMETRIC GROUPby Dieter Blessenohl (Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany) & Manfred Schocker (University of Wales Swansea, UK)
http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/p369.html

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Program: 8th ASEAN Science and Technology Conference

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Note: I have been invited to participate in the 8th ASEAN Science and Technology Week Scientific and Technical Conference scheduled on July 3-4, 2008 in Hotel Sofitel, Manila, Philippines.

I intend to attend the session on Information and Communications Technology.

Below is the conference program. (Note: Click on the image to see a larger view.)

Related Link:

http://raffysaldana.blogspot.com/2008/06/invitation-8th-asean-science-and.html

Raffy

6/23/08

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High Performance Computing Asia 2009 (Taiwan)

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HPC Asia 2009 Conference
(The 10th International Conference on High-Performance Computing in Asia-Pacific Region)
http://www.nchc.org.tw/event/2009/hpcasia
March 2~5, 2009, Kaohsiung, Taiwan


Call for Papers & Posters

■ Scope

HPC Asia 2009 is the tenth of a series of successful international conferences held every 18 months. The conference provides an international forum for HPC researchers, developers, and users throughout the world to exchange and share their experiences, new ideas, case studies, latest research results and future development suggestions on all aspects of high performance computing. In addition to contributed technical papers, HPC Asia 2009 will also feature keynote/invited speeches, tutorials, commercial/research exhibition, etc. Authors are invited to submit manuscripts of research work in all areas of high performance computing.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

● System Architecture and Models for HPC
● System Software for HPC
● Algorithms and Applications for HPC
● Computational Science & Scientific Computation (BT, NT, ST, ET, etc.)
● Grid Computing, its application and Business models
● e-Science and/or Cyber-infrastructure
● High Performance Network and Networked Applications
● Performance Modeling and Evaluation
● Parallel I/O and Storage Systems
● Resource Management and Job Scheduling
● Parallel Programming Model, Environments, and Tools
● Others

■ Important Dates:

● Paper Submission Start： August 1 , 2008
● Paper Submission Due：September 18 , 2008
● Poster Submission Due：October 8 , 2008
● Author Notification：November 28 , 2008
● Camera-Ready Paper Due：December 28 , 2008

■ Submission:

● Paper Submission. Papers presenting original and unpublished work are invited and will be evaluated based on originality, significance, technical soundness, and clarity of exposition. Submitted papers should be formatted in a two-column IEEE Computer Society format (URL http://www.computer.org/cspress/instruct.htm) and should not exceed 8 pages including figures and references. One author of each accepted paper will be expected to present the paper at the conference. Submissions should be made via the conference web site: http://www.nchc.org.tw/event/2009/hpcasia.

● Poster Submission. Poster authors are invited to submit poster abstract up to 2 pages. The program committee will review the abstracts in terms of originality, significance, technical soundness, and clarity of exposition.Submissions should be made via the conference web site: http://www.nchc.org.tw/event/2009/hpcasia.

For further information of the conference, please contact master@hpc2009.nchc.org.tw


.

Talk on Grid Computing, Cloud Computing and e-Business: The High-Tech Future World of Global Business and Computing in the 21st Century

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The Manila Futurists Society, in cooperation with FEU's Research Department, holds its free seminar-event entitled


"Grid Computing, Cloud Computing, and e-Business: The High-Tech Future World of Global Business and Computing in the 21st
Century"

to be held on Thursday, June 26, 2008, 10AM
at the FEU University Conference Center, FEU Morayta, Manila

Guest Speaker:

Rafael Saldaña, Ph.D.
Coordinator
Ateneo Grid and High Performance Computing Group
Ateneo de Manila University

Abtract:

Two emerging technologies in high-end information and communications technology (ICT) are “grid computing” and “cloud computing” technologies.

Government laboratories and scientific organizations worldwide have been using grid technologies for several years, solving some of the most complex and important problems facing mankind. Now grid computing is becoming a critical component of day-to-day business.

Imagine this scenario:

· Investment portfolio is analyzed in minutes rather than hours
· Drug discovery process is significantly accelerated
· The design time of products is cut in half while reducing instances of defects
· Business research teams around the world are united to take advantage of the most up-to-date knowledge

According to IBM, today’s challenging business climate requires continuous innovation to differentiate products and services. Business must adjust dynamically and efficiently to marketplace shifts and customer demands.

This talk will focus on grid computing, cloud computing and their impact on doing e-business in a high-technology world of the future.

Master of Ceremonies is Manila Futurist Lei Kalina, also chief strategist and media practitioner from Powerhaus Media Professionals.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Rafael Saldaña earned his Ph.D. from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He is an associate professor of applied mathematics and computing in the School of Science and Engineering, Ateneo de Manila University, editor-in-chief of the Philippine Information Technology Journal (PITJ) and past president of the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP).
With his research interests including grid and high performance computing, Dr. Saldaña
is co-principal investigator of two international projects related to grid computing: ONCO-MEDIA Project (funded by the French Government's ICT Asia Regional Program) and EUASIAGRID Project (funded by the European Commission FP7 Program).

.

Thank You Very Much, French Embassy!

.
Yesterday (6/24/08) I went to the French Embassy in Makati City to get my SCHENGEN VISA for my scheduled trip to Paris, France on July 10, 2008 onwards. The French Embassy gave me a multiple entry SHENGEN VISA (up to 90 days stay per visit) for two years. And it's free :) (because of my scientific collaborations with French institutions).

Thank you very much, French Embassy!

Cheers,

Raffy
6/25/08

When Will We Ever Learn?

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Figure Caption: Editorial cartoon in Inquirer Online, 6/24/08. Source: http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/editorial/view/20080623-144357/Another-sea-tragedy

.
Watching the morning news on tv may not be a good idea...

It makes you sad and feel depressed after seeing the plight of typhoon victims including the passengers of a Philippine ferryboat which capsized during the height of typhoon 'Frank'.

And pity the survivors. After the harrowing experience they had undergone, they were refused temporary shelter by the Philippine Coastguard Compound (according to the news item I saw on tv).

The editorial in today's Inquirer Online talks about the negligence of the authorities and the poor record of the shipping company that owns the ship that capsized.

The writer of the article laments the "very low regard for the value of human life."

Another sea tragedy... When will we ever learn?

Raffy Saldaña
6/24/08

Signs of the Times

.
Recent news on tv:

Heat wave in Italy ...

Wildfires in California (USA) ...

Flooding in Georgia (USA) ...

Typhoon in the Philippines ...

Disasters seem to be everywhere... We should always be prepared.

Raffy Saldaña
6/24/08
.

Task Force Noah (Fund-raising Campaign for Typhoon Victims)

From the Sanggunian's Committee on Social Concern and External Affiliations -- Ateneo DREAM Team, Ateneo de Manila University.
.

Classess Resume Tuesday (6/24/08)

.
According to the news today (6/23/08) classes in all levels will resume tomorrow (6/24/08) in Ateneo de Manila University.

Below is my schedule for tomorrow, Tuesday, 6/24/08:

1. Go to French Embassy in Makati City to get visa to France in connection with the ONCO-MEDIA meeting in Paris, France on July 11-13, 2008.

2. Ma 20 (Calculus for Economists) -- Topics: (1) Product Rule for differentiation, (2) Quotient rule for differentiation, (3) Finding the derivative of a function using the limit definition of the derivative, (4) Exercises. Note: I have requested Michael Samson to substitute for me in case that I will not make it in time for my Ma 20 class.

3. Ma 195a.15/Ma 256 (Numerical Analysis) -- Topic: Rootfinding using Newton's Method.


Raffy
6/23/08
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CHED Technical Panel Meeting on Curriculum Development and Ladderization Program

.
Note: Today (6/23/08) I received a notice of meeting for the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Technical Committee on Curriculum Developmentg and Ladderization Program.

Venue: Old Swiss Inn Restaurant, Belen St., Paco, Manila
Date: June 26, 2008
Time: 9:00 a.m.

Unfortunately, I already made a commitment several weeks ago to give a talk on "Grid Computing and Business Applications" on Thursday, June 26, 2008 in the Far Eastern University (FEU), Morayta, Manila. This event is being organized by the Manila Futurists Society. More on this event later...

Raffy
6/23/08

Morning After the Typhoon (6/23/08)

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Photo Caption: "A Red Cross volunteer comforts a woman at the office of Sulpicio Lines in Manila, where families waited for news on survivors of the ferry M/V Princess of the Stars (inset), which capsized off Sibuyan Island in Romblon." Photo by JUN MENDOZA. Source: Philippine Star Online.

.
When I woke up this morning (6/2308), the sun was up and the rain has stopped -- very different from yesterday's weather condition.

A news report in TV showed footages of survivors of MV Princess, the ferry boat that sank due to Typhon 'Frank'. However, hundreds more were reported missing.

Below are some news updates from Philippine Star Online:

"929 dead, missing

As the death toll nationwide from Typhoon ‘Frank’ soared to 229 yesterday, more than 700 passengers and crew were missing after a ferry capsized last Saturday off Sibuyan Island in Romblon."

Full story >>

Other headlines:

‘Frank’ pounds RP, leaves 229 dead
Classes suspended today in Metro Manila, 12 provinces
Thousands evacuated in Metro; flights canceled


Comment: When I read the headline from Philippine Star I thought that there was something wrong. The headline said '929 dead, missing'. When I read the body of the news it was stated that there were 229 dead. At first I thought that it was a typographical error. Then, I realized that the writer added 229 (dead) to 700 (missing) and came up with the number 929.

I wonder if there are many readers who were misled by the figure (929) indicated in the news headline.

Raffy
6/23/08
.

No Classes at all Levels in Metro Manila on Monday, 6/23/08

.

News updates from Inquirer Online (6/22 to 6/23/08):

11:58PM Hundreds feared dead after ferry sinks off Sibuyan Island
11:38PM Classes suspended too in Laguna Monday
11:32PM 29 bus passengers hurt in NLEx mishap
11:26PM Jet skiers help rescue Iloilo residents from floods
10:59PM Search for survivors at sea to continue overnight
10:55PM No classes at all levels in Metro, 12 provinces Monday
10:44PM PAL says resuming normal operations
10:33PM Domestic flights cancelled, reset due to typhoon 'Frank'
10:30PM Eastern Visayas loses close to P900M in crops, infra
10:21PM Urban poor areas in Manila hardest hit by floods

Inquirer Headline:

"MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE 3) At least 229 people were killed while over 700 others were missing after typhoon "Frank" (international codename: Fengshen) ravaged the Visayas and Southern Luzon, including Metro Manila, Red Cross and civil defense officials said Sunday.
Floods, storm surge, and landslides affected 366,444 people, of which, 70,717 are in evacuation centers as of 6 a.m. Sunday, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said."

Read more ...

Comment: It's another sad day for the Philippines. Another calamity strikes again, killing hundreds of lives and destroying millions of pesos worth of properties. This is another moment for Filipinos to unite and help the victims of Typhoon 'Frank'.

Raffy
6/23/08

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Bad Weather in Metro Manila Due to Typhoon 'Frank'

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Photo Caption: Typhoon ‘Frank’ in a satellite image issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration as of 9:00 a.m. Sunday (6/22/08). Source: http://www.inquirer.net

.
I woke up this morning (6/22/08) finding out that there was no electricity in my condominium unit in Quezon City (what we call 'brown-out' in the Philippines). Water has creeped inside the room due to heavy rains and strong winds.

Later during the day, I read in Inquirer Online that it was already typhoon signal number 3 in Metro Manila.

Below are some news items in Inquirer Online indicating how bad the weather is in Metro Manila today (6/22/08):

05:29PM Coast Guard ship reaches ‘Princess,’ no signs of life so far
05:24PM Classes at all levels in Valenzuela City suspended--report
04:52PM ‘Frank’ leaves at least 86 dead, 700 missing
03:43PM Hundreds of families displaced by floods in Metro Manila
03:00PM Eastern Visayas loses close to P900M in crops, infra
02:14PM Rescue ship on the way to get ‘Princess’ survivors
01:57PM 3 ferry survivors found in Romblon -- official
01:44PM ‘Frank’ leaves at least 82 dead
01:20PM Frank forces 812 families in Lucena City to flee
11:39AM Domestic flights cancelled, reset due to typhoon 'Frank'
11:26AM NDCC convenes in wake of 'Frank'
11:20AM Iloilo to be placed under state of calamity
11:18AM PAL says resuming normal operations
11:11AM Coast guard fears many dead after ferry sinks
10:58AM 'Frank' lashes Metro, Visayas
10:56AM 'Frank' floods parts of Metro Manila
8:55AM Ferry carrying over 700 sinking in storm--officials
8:00AM Manila domestic flights canceled--report
7:03AM MMDA activates rescue, flood control operations
6:03AM Light Rail Transit operations suspended due to 'Frank'
5:44AM Typhoon 'Frank' maintains strength; 90 km southeast of Metro


I hope and pray that there will be minimal damage (both in properties and human lives) due to typhoon 'Frank'.

Raffy
6/22/08