MechScience: For mechanician & mechanical science

《自然》：初涉科研的四个黄金戒律

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:06:00 +0000

2003年Nature (2003, 426:389)上有一篇文章，是德克萨斯大学物理系的著名物理学家Steven Weinberg写的 “Four Golden Lessons”，是科学家对初涉科研生涯的学子们的一些忠告。暂且译为“四个黄金戒律”，内容编译如下：
1．边干边学，不要彷徨。当你开始接受一个新课题或进入一个新的研究领域时，往往会感到迷茫。经常遇到的问题是，我现在对这个领域的研究进展一无所知，或者如果我不详细了解已经开展的各种研究，我怎么去开展一个工作？实际上不必太彷徨，需要牢记的经验是：你必须立即开始你的研究工作，在工作过程中掌握你需要的知识。记住：没有一个人会知道所有的事情，你也不需要！
2．勇于创新，敢于挑战。当你在科学的海洋中遨游时，一定要敢于到险滩、未知的地方去闯闯。在选题时要去选择那些最有挑战性、争论最多、研究最少、还没有统一结论的课题，这些问题或领域往往是最有作为的，最容易有突破，最容易出成果。
3．忍受寂寞，注重过程。你要学会宽恕自己适当的“浪费”时间。在实际生活中，人们都想知道我选择的科学问题是否是很重要的或者是最重要的。但是要知道哪个问题是最重要的往往是很困难的，你也永远都不会知道在历史上的哪个时刻某一个科学问题将会被攻克。由于你不能肯定哪个科学问题是正确的，那么你在实验室或办公室中忙忙碌碌所化费的绝大多数时间有可能是白白“浪费”了的。但是，在科研生涯中，如果你想创新，那么你就必须习惯你所“浪费”的大多数时间不是在创新，而是很平静地在科学知识的海洋中漂流着。这个过程是你必须经历的过程。
4. 掌握历史，树立信心。你要学习有关科学史方面的知识，至少要知道你所从事的学科领域的发展历史。科学史对你的科研工作是很有帮助的，也可以使你感受到你工作的价值，还会增加自豪感。如果你在某个领域或某个科学问题上真的作出了成绩，在科学发展史上添了一笔，为人类作出了贡献，你怎么会有理由不自豪呢？

（说明：本文属于编译，如果没有表达作者的含义或曲解了作者的含义，编译者负责。）
转载自：http://www.sciencenet.cn/blog/user_content.aspx?id=45320
转载自：http://www.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=46783

CGiV09 - 6th International Conference Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualization

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:05:00 +0000

CGiV09 - 6th International Conference Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualization11~14 August 2009 - Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

http://www.graphicslink.co.uk/cgiv09/

Call for Paper, Symposium proposal, Poster, Abstract for PhD Workshop, Tutorial, Video, Digital Art, Exhibition and Participation

Accepted papers will be published by IEEE Computer Society Press, posted in IEEE Digital Library, and indexed with the major indices.
Selected accepted paper will be invited paper will be included in the special issues of journals.

Theme and scope is planned as series of symposia with details and further information is available at: http://www.graphicslink.co.uk/cgiv09/symposia.htm

For submission and conference registration, please log into the online conference management system <http://www.conftool.net/cgiv09/ >

Hotel accommodation details and booking form is available on: http://www.graphicslink.co.uk/cgiv09/VENUE.htm

Pre-conference PhD workshop planned for 11 August 2009. Further details are available from http://www.graphicslink.co.uk/cgiv09/cgiv_PhD_Workshop.htm )

Important dates: http://www.graphicslink.co.uk/cgiv09/DATES.htm

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conference Co-ordinatorP.O. BOX 29, HATFIELD, AL9 7ZL, United Kingdom
T: (Int. +44) 1707 - 652 224
F: (Int. +44) 1707 - 652 247
E: cgiv09@graphicslink.co.uk
URL: http://www.graphicslink.co.uk/cgiv09/

9th World Congress on Computational Mechanics WCCM/APCOM2010

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Australia is the host for the 9th World Congress on Computational Mechanics and 4th Asian Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics in 2010. Sydney is without a doubt one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It has a reputation for friendly people, a cosmopolitan lifestyle, wonderful shopping and world class entertainment. Our magnificent harbour, renowned Opera House and sunny beaches combine to make Sydney a unique destination.
The congress and exhibition will be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour, which is adjacent to the heart of the city. The centre offers first class facilities to delegates, presenters and exhibitors alike and is the focal point of Darling Harbour which itself is alive with shops, restaurants and visitor attractions. Hotel accommodation of all standards is within walking distance from the Convention Centre.

Source : http://www.wccm2010.com/intro.htm

The 2009 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation (ICMA 2009)

Varice0802@gmail.com (Taojin) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:30:00 +0000

The 2009 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation (ICMA 2009) will take place in Changchun, Jilin, China from August 9 to August 12, 2009.
Contributed Papers: All papers must be submitted in PDF format prepared strictly following the IEEE PDF Requirements for Creating PDF Documents for IEEE Xplore®. The standard number of pages is 6 and the maximum page limit is 8 pages with extra payment for the two extra pages. See detailed instructions in the conference web site. All paper accepted by IEEE ICMA 2009 will be indexed by EI and included in IEEE Xplore®.
http://www.ieee-icma.org/

How to Write a Highly Cited Paper

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:24:00 +0000

I mean how to write good papers. Research Evaluation is one of hard tasks in scientific management. because it needs to judge about something that it is not in the field of manager experts. alwayse there was different factors to do such evaluations. number of papers published by a special scientist, impact factor of journals he published his papers in, and number of citations he recieved are different factors for evaluation of scientists performance. citation number is must popular factor in use toay. it used for evaluation of university facuties in universities and in university rankings. it also used for evaluation of scientific impact of nations and determine impact factor of scientific journals. then what's the way to write a highly cited paper. I spent about a year to find out this way. these are results of my study in this regard.

Scienctific society is a large and complicated chain construced of individual researchers as loops. then it is very hard and sometimes really imposible to identify everyone's role in achieve an important scientific aim. you can not correspond every scientific discovery just to one people. of course we like to do it becasue we always had a hero and champion in our life from our childness but it is not always true specially in science. for example computers have very important role in science today. we always use "Search motors" such as Google or etc. but we dont refer them in each of our papers. then we cant not always trust to evaluations based on citations because all factors and important resources are not mentioned in them. another misleading thing is all cited papers are not used equally. for example each scientific paper is based on several pervious published papers but it mention too many other papers as a reference for reader or as a historical review.
1. Describe a real physcial phonemena
I have seen many papers in my life who had written just to solve a just a problem. they overcomed many computational difficulties but at the end they proint out not important result. i think this is really waste of time and energy on these synthetic problems when there are important problems unsolved in the world. try to find these important unsolved problems and then solve them. not just solve some problems to make more papers.
2. How to find a valuable problems.
I mentioned that the scientific society is a chain constructed of different research groups. every research group use result of other research groups. try to find out which group of research teams or individual researcher use your papers and then try to comply their needs. just think science as a bussiness. this business needs marketting to improve. then do this marketing before selection of a topic to research. read papers of people who use your works even speak with them or do joint work with them to find out their needs. then i repeat again that dont just read papers in your topic read paper of people who use your papers to see their need. then READ MORE PAPERS.
3. Just think science as a business. Marketing is important factor in success.
Must researchers just think about what they can do interesting with their skills and laboratory facilities . but it is not true. just think about people who read your papers and want to use it. how you can help them. what they need. imagine your self as a virtual reader to see how a reader can use your work.
4. Develop a suitable model not a very general and complex models
dont just try to develop a very complicated model which can solver more general problems then befire. most general method is already exist. people can model their systems with modlling constructing atoms and their interaction with quantum mechanics but it is a really impossible one!. complex models have two important disadvantages as below
1. first disadvantage of more complex models it is harder to describe a system. complex models often need more variables to describe a system and finding these values are not so easy in practice. then people need to estimate these variables and these result to their accuracy become low as like as less accurate models.
2. complex models need more time to learning, programming, and even in computation time.
then they never would use complex models if simpler models can result similar conclusions.then try to develop a model which is logical. note that your model is always different from real model which are in use in practice then try a model which have logical simplicfication. always remember very simple formuala for error of the result. error is the result is greatest error of error producers. then if you ignore one source of error in your model then it is very funny to analyze another factor which may be more negligible. or when your model is different from what is in use in practice. note this difference and neglect factors that add accuracy more that is between overall accuracy of your model.
5. think about usefullness of results
try to develop a simple model who can show important trends and specially important behaviour of the system as a leading for experimentalis peoples which deal with real systems. one of main important duties of theoretical science is determine the order of importance for one factor not how a factor can affect a result. people can do experiment to see how is effect of a factor exactly. as a theoretical scientist you must convince expermentialist to do such experiments even if they are hard. this was exactly what Albert Einestein did!. try to make a paper when your result have concluded to an important point which is valuable to note. not just when you solved a problem. then as i think most important role of theoritians is find out impotant variables in a physical phonamena and their overall impact on results.
6. Joint work is a magic strategy.
because every scientist knowledge of science is limited any way. it is very beneficial to consult with bigger society very much. then Joint work is very important. more people would read the work before it be in hands of the reader. every person can imagine himself by reader as a different point of point of view. number of authors always has been an determining factor in citation number.
7. interdisciplinary work speccially joint with different field experts
Large percent of citations to a paper always been from peoples in topics far from main authors topic. then try to consult with these people to make something better for their important consumers. interdisciplinary works are good in another point of view. people of a any science built what they could built. they need a professional in another science to build something that they dont know how to build.
8. international works and alliances and also advertising!
Althought there exist a internet and it is a international network. it is very large network. and sometimes your work would not be seen by its real costumer. then try to advertise your work if you think that is valuable. this can be done by submit your work to international conferences and discuss with people there.
9. dont forget IMPACT FACTOR and RELEVANCE Of Journal to your work
Reviewers are very important part to determine the quality of your work. Try to submit your paper to a journal which is more relevant to your work. (Impact factor is not important in this level). because such journal have more expert reviewr in that field. but if there are many journals who publish such works send it to journal with higher impact factor. for example if your work is really related toVibration of systems Journal of Sound and Vibration is very good. (in addition to NATURE!) but this is not Best Journal if your work is related to even Acoustics. in that field (Journal of Acoustical Society of America) is better. or Dispersion Science and Technology impact factor is near to 1 by if your work is related to ultrasonics in solutions send it to Ultrasonics.
10. Marketing is most important in EXPERIMENTAL WORKS.
Some expermentialists thinks because their work is experimental in nature. it is practical and it dont need marketing. note that there are infinity number of systems you can build in the world. from systems consisteed of several Atoms to milions of them. which is really needed?. you need to read papers and speak with people to see what is their difficulty with current available systems. which property in new systems are really important. even listening to news is important. Climate change is special topic then NO2 and CO2 are two important compounds. HIV is disease of the century. which reactions are related to that? with these news and papers you can even predict what is the next revolution and which topics are revolutionary in these decade.
11. Science is a stream which everyone must swim in its direction
Note that is not just a result of work of one people. it is a result of the whole society. its social aspects are important as well as its professional aspects. every time in each level of the time some discoveries must be done by scientists. Finite element method become useful when computers come into scene. and DNA damage and RNA damage are important because they are related to current disease. scientists who dont pay attention in the level of science are not so successful today. then try to be part of new discoveries and try to predict next revolutions to be part of that.
12." Easy to Use" and "Easy to Develop", also "OPEN SOURCE" and "Open archetecture"
Try to make your work easy to use. laziness are one of important characters of humankind. people have no time to learn your hard way to state any thing. state any thing in easiest way that even a school student can understant what you say. if you develop a package make it OPEN SOURCE and READABLE too. open source packages are not beneficial if they not be READIBLE. in this regard to build your program and tool with open architecture who any one can use it as he/she wants. market is very important thing as you know in experimetal devices. think about how your work may progress and enhance. and let people to do it. it will result in progress of your work in addition to citation for you.
13. Pay attention more too result than tools or methods you used or category which your work belong to
if you use high-tech elements in your work it dont means your work is really a progress. what is important is what is physical and practical result of your work in real world. even if be by must elementary things. ROD LAKES made negative poission ratio foams with laws from elementary geomtery. (if i think true). number of citation your recieve if you dont abuse is very related to number of people who can use your works. then just ask your self this simple question more and more how people can use my work. it is not important you work be in highly cited group just try to do something beneficial to mankind. your work would be cited.
14. FOCUS on an AIM
it dont contradicts with interdisiplinary work. do something complete. ant try to reach a big AIM. doing one thing GREAT is very better than doing somany things but small. have an aim which can improve science very much. each paper is a step to reach that goal.
15. FOCUS on Elements
if you work experimental focus on elements of a system is better than whole system. if you are writing computational tasks witing a program who can do something special very good is better than develop a new general computational soft and if you work on biology focus on one aspect is very better than doing general experiments. because general concepts are discussed very much and today small concepts are future general concepts.

http://www.imechanica.org/node/2798

2009 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:15:00 +0000

This year, the ASME Congress tradition continues in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, with a technical program that promises to be the most extensive and diverse we've ever had, featuring the latest cutting-edge engineering research with nearly 350 sessions.

Various forums, workshops, seminars, social events and hands-on product demonstrations at the exposition give you the opportunity to exchange ideas, network, and explore new perspectives of fellow professionals from hundreds of different companies, industries, and companies from around the world.
Topics include:

Track 1 Advances in Aerospace Technology
Track 2 Biomedical and Biotechnology Engineering
Track 3 Combustion Science and Engineering
Track 4 Design and Manufacturing
Track 5 Electronics and Photonics
Track 6 Emerging Technologies (In Structural and Materials Aspects of Alternative Energy Systems)
Track 7 Energy Systems: Analysis, Thermodynamics and Sustainability
Track 8 Engineering Education and Professional Development
Track 9 Engineering to Address Climate Change
Track 10 Heat Transfer, Fluid Flows, and Thermal Systems
Track 11 Mechanical Systems and Control
Track 12 Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Fluids
Track 13 Micro and Nano Systems
Track 14 New Developments in Simulation Methods and Software for Engineering Applications
Track 15 Processing and Engineering Applications of Novel Materials
Track 16 Recent Advances in Engineering
Track 17 Safety Engineering, Risk Analysis and Reliability Methods
Track 18 Sustainable Products and Processes
Track 19 Transportation Systems
Track 20 Sound, Vibration and Design
Submit your abstract today!

《自然》杂志给青年科学家的四点忠告

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 07:39:00 +0000

要点：1. 人生也有涯,而知也无涯, 不必要做到全知全能; 2. 未知的天地更广阔; 3. 在平静的海洋中灵感的浪花才能显现; 4. 以史为鉴,可以知得失。

Scientist: Four golden lessons STEVEN WEINBERG Steven Weinberg is in the Department of Physics, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas 78712, USA. This essay is based on a commencement talk given by the author at the Science Convocation at McGill University in June.

When I received my undergraduate degree — about a hundred years ago — the physics literature seemed to me a vast, unexplored ocean, every part of which I had to chart before beginning any research of my own. How could I do anything without knowing everything that had already been done? Fortunately, in my first year of graduate school, I had the good luck to fall into the hands of senior physicists who insisted, over my anxious objections, that I must start doing research, and pick up what I needed to know as I went along. It was sink or swim. To my surprise, I found that this works. I managed to get a quick PhD — though when I got it I knew almost nothing about physics. But I did learn one big thing: that no one knows everything, and you don't have to.
Another lesson to be learned, to continue using my oceanographic metaphor, is that while you are swimming and not sinking you should aim for rough water. When I was teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 1960s, a student told me that he wanted to go into general relativity rather than the area I was working on, elementary particle physics, because the principles of the former were well known, while the latter seemed like a mess to him. It struck me that he had just given a perfectly good reason for doing the opposite. Particle physics was an area where creative work could still be done. It really was a mess in the 1960s, but since that time the work of many theoretical and experimental physicists has been able to sort it out, and put everything (well, almost everything) together in a beautiful theory known as the standard model. My advice is to go for the messes — that's where the action is.
My third piece of advice is probably the hardest to take. It is to forgive yourself for wasting time. Students are only asked to solve problems that their professors (unless unusually cruel) know to be solvable. In addition, it doesn't matter if the problems are scientifically important — they have to be solved to pass the course. But in the real world, it's very hard to know which problems are important, and you never know whether at a given moment in history a problem is solvable. At the beginning of the twentieth century, several leading physicists, including Lorentz and Abraham, were trying to work out a theory of the electron. This was partly in order to understand why all attempts to detect effects of Earth's motion through the ether had failed. We now know that they were working on the wrong problem. At that time, no one could have developed a successful theory of the electron, because quantum mechanics had not yet been discovered. It took the genius of Albert Einstein in 1905 to realize that the right problem on which to work was the effect of motion on measurements of space and time. This led him to the special theory of relativity. As you will never be sure which are the right problems to work on, most of the time that you spend in the laboratory or at your desk will be wasted. If you want to be creative, then you will have to get used to spending most of your time not being creative, to being becalmed on the ocean of scientific knowledge.
Finally, learn something about the history of science, or at a minimum the history of your own branch of science. The least important reason for this is that the history may actually be of some use to you in your own scientific work. For instance, now and then scientists are hampered by believing one of the over?simplified models of science that have been proposed by philosophers from Francis Bacon to Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper. The best antidote to the philosophy of science is a knowledge of the history of science. More importantly, the history of science can make your work seem more worthwhile to you. As a scientist, you're probably not going to get rich.

Your friends and relatives probably won't understand what you're doing. And if you work in a field like elementary particle physics, you won't even have the satisfaction of doing something that is immediately useful. But you can get great satisfaction by recognizing that your work in science is a part of history. Look back 100 years, to 1903. How important is it now who was Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1903, or President of the United States? What stands out as really important is that at McGill University, Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy were working out the nature of radioactivity. This work (of course!) had practical applications, but much more important were its cultural implications. The understanding of radioactivity allowed physicists to explain how the Sun and Earth's cores could still be hot after millions of years. In this way, it removed the last scientific objection to what many geologists and paleontologists thought was the great age of the Earth and the Sun. After this, Christians and Jews either had to give up belief in the literal truth of the Bible or resign themselves to intellectual irrelevance. This was just one step in a sequence of steps from Galileo through Newton and Darwin to the present that, time after time, has weakened the hold of religious dogmatism. Reading any newspaper nowadays is enough to show you that this work is not yet complete. But it is civilizing work, of which scientists are able to feel proud.

第一届结构及多学科优化工程应用与理论研讨会

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:57:00 +0000

第一届结构及多学科优化工程应用与理论研讨会（CSMO-2009）
Conference on Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization – Theory and Applications
中国·大连—2009年9月3日-4日

欢迎大家参加2009年9月3日-4日于中国大连举行的结构及多学科优化工程应用与理论研讨会（CSMO-2009）。由中国力学学会主办,大连理工大学承办、Altair Engineering协办的CSMO-2009旨在为国内优化领域的专家学者和CAE工程师提供一个交流研究成果和工程应用经验的开放平台，以推动结构优化的工程应用和科学研究在我国更快发展。CSMO-2009的会程将包括特邀报告、工程应用和理论研究的论文发表、专题讨论和会后培训班等项内容。详细讨论专题，组织委员会，邀请专家等请参考大会网站，或http://www.cstam.org.cn/show.asp?unid=2006053671。

重要日期
2009年3月15日前返回参会回执。
2009年4月15日前提交800字左右的论文中文摘要。
2009年5月15日发出论文录取通知。
2009年7月20日前提交论文全文

会议秘书处联系方式
联系人：曲牧
联系电话：0411-84707652
传真： 0411-84707652
Email： yzlxb@dlut.edu.cn
通讯地址：辽宁省大连市大连理工大学工程力学系
邮政编码：116023
会务费：正式代表￥1000，在读研究生￥600
住宿及费用：组委会推荐入住大连理工大学科技园酒店标准间: 298元/天左右（因房间数量有限，有意入住者请尽早与会务组联系）
会议网站： http://sail.dlut.edu.cn/csmo2009
E-mail：csmo2009@gmail.com

Twelve steps to a winning research proposal

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 06:03:00 +0000

By George A. Hazelrigg, National Science Foundation

TWELVE STEPS TO A WINNING RESEARCH PROPOSAL

I have been an NSF program director for 18 years. During this time, I have personally administered the review of some 3,000 proposals and been involved in the review of perhaps another 10,000. Through this experience, I have come to see that often there are real differences between winning proposals and losing proposals. The differences are clear. Largely, they are not subjective differences or differences of quality; to a large extent, losing proposals are just plain missing elements that are found in winning proposals. Although I have known this for some time, a recent experience reinforced it.

I was having lunch with a young faculty person who had come to NSF to sit on her first proposal review panel. I asked her what she had learned from the process. She quickly rattled off six or eight lessons she could take home. And they were all good lessons. My response was, “Good, just learn from this experience and don’t make the mistakes that the losing proposals made.” You can do the same, and vastly improve your chance of success in proposal writing. Just follow these twelve simple steps.

Know yourself: Know your area of expertise, what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses. Play to your strengths, not to your weaknesses. Do not assume that, because you do not understand an area, no one understands it or that there has been no previous research conducted in the area. If you want to get into a new area of research, learn something about the area before you write a proposal. Research previous work. Be a scholar.
Know the program from which you seek support: You are responsible for finding the appropriate program for support of your research. Don’t leave this task up to someone else. If you are not absolutely certain which program is appropriate, call the program officer to find out. Never submit a proposal to a program if you are not certain that it is the correct program to support your area of research. Proposals submitted inappropriately to programs may be returned without review, transferred to other programs where they are likely to be declined, or simply trashed in the program to which you submit. In any case, you have wasted your time writing a proposal that has no chance of success from the get-go.
Read the program announcement: Programs and special activities have specific goals and specific requirements. If you don’t meet those goals and requirements, you have thrown out your chance of success. Read the announcement for what it says, not for what you want it to say. If your research does not fit easily within the scope of the topic areas outlined, your chance of success is nil.
Formulate an appropriate research objective: A research proposal is a proposal to conduct research, not to conduct development or design or some other activity. Research is a methodical process of building upon previous knowledge to derive or discover new knowledge, that is, something that isn’t known before the research is conducted. In formulating a research objective, be sure that it hasn’t been proven impossible (for example, “My research objective is to find a geometric construction to trisect an angle”), that it is doable within a reasonable budget and in a reasonable time, that you can do it, and that it is research, not development.
Develop a viable research plan: A viable research plan is a plan to accomplish your research objective that has a non-zero probability of success. The focus of the plan must be to accomplish the research objective. In some cases, it is appropriate to validate your results. In such cases, a valid validation plan should be part of your research plan. If there are potential difficulties lurking in your plan, do not hide from them, but make them clear and, if possible, suggest alternative approaches to achieving your objective. A good research plan lays out step-by-step the approach to accomplishment of the research objective. It does not gloss over difficult areas with statements like, “We will use computers to accomplish this solution.”
State your research objective clearly in your proposal: A good research proposal includes a clear statement of the research objective. Early in the proposal is better than later in the proposal. The first sentence of the proposal is a good place. A good first sentence might be, “The research objective of this proposal is...” Do not use the word “develop” in the statement of your research objective. It is, after all, supposed to be a research objective, not a development objective. Many proposals include no statement of the research objective whatsoever. The vast majority of these are not funded. Remember that a research proposal is not a research paper. Do not spend the first 10 pages building up suspense over what is the research objective.
Frame your project around the work of others: Remember that research builds on the extant knowledge base, that is, upon the work of others. Be sure to frame your project appropriately, acknowledging the current limits of knowledge and making clear your contribution to the extension of these limits. Be sure that you include references to the extant work of others. Proposals that include references only to the work of the principle investigator stand a negligible probability of success. Also frame your project in terms of its broader impact to the field and to society. Describe the benefit to society if your project is successful. A good statement is, “If successful, the benefits of this research will be...”
Grammar and spelling count: Proposals are not graded on grammar. But if the grammar is not perfect, the result is ambiguities left to the reviewer to resolve. Ambiguities make the proposal difficult to read and often impossible to understand, and often result in low ratings. Be sure your grammar is perfect. Also be sure every word is correctly spelled. If the word you want to use is not in the spell checker, consider carefully its use. Not in the spell checker usually means that most people won’t understand it. With only very special exceptions, it is not advisable to use words that are not in the spell checker. Reviewers used to say, “He’s just an engineer. Don’t mind the fact that he can’t spell.” Now they say, “He’s proposing to do complex computer modeling, but he doesn’t know how to use the spell checker...”
Format and brevity are important: Do not feel that your proposal is rated based on its weight. Do not do your best to be as verbose as possible, to cover every conceivable detail, to use the smallest permissible fonts, and to get the absolute most out of each sheet of paper. Reviewers hate being challenged to read densely prepared text or to read obtusely prepared matter. Use 12-point fonts, use easily legible fonts, and use generous margins. Take pity on the reviewers. Make your proposal a pleasant reading experience that puts important concepts up front and makes them clear. Use figures appropriately to make and clarify points, but not as filler. Remember, you are writing this proposal to the reviewers, not to yourself. Remember that exceeding page limits or other format criteria, even marginally, can disqualify your proposal from consideration.
Know the review process: Know how your proposal will be reviewed before you write it. Proposals that are reviewed by panels must be written to a broader audience than proposals that will be reviewed by mail. Mail review can seek out reviewers with very specific expertise in very narrow disciplines. This is not possible in panels. Know approximately how many proposals will be reviewed with yours and plan not to overburden the reviewers with minutia. Keep in mind that, the more proposals a panel considers, the more difficult it will be for panelists to remember specific details of your proposal. Remember, the main objective here is to write your proposal to get it through the review process successfully. It is not the objective of your proposal to brag about yourself or your research, nor is it the objective to seek to publish your proposal. Again, your proposal is a proposal; it is not a research paper.
Proof read your proposal before it is sent: Many proposals are sent out with idiotic mistakes, omissions, and errors of all sorts. NSF program managers have seen proposals come in with research schedules pasted in from other proposals unchanged, with dates referring to the stone age and irrelevant research tasks. Proposals have been submitted with the list of references omitted and with the references not referred to. Proposals have been submitted to the wrong program. Proposals have been submitted with misspellings in the title. These proposals were not successful. Stupid things like this kill a proposal. It is easy to catch them with a simple, but careful, proof reading. Don’t spend six or eight weeks writing a proposal just to kill it with stupid mistakes that are easily prevented.
Submit your proposal on time: Duh? Why work for two months on a proposal just to have it disqualified for being late? Remember, fairness dictates that proposal submission rules must apply to everyone. It is not up to the discretion of the program officer to grant you dispensation on deadlines. That would be unfair to everyone else, and it could invalidate the entire competition. Equipment failures, power outages, hurricanes and tornadoes, and even internal problems at your institution are not valid excuses. As adults, you are responsible for getting your proposal in on time. If misfortune befalls you, it’s tough luck. Don’t take chances. Get your proposal in two or three days before the deadline.

These twelve steps are nothing more than common sense. They are so obvious that they hardly bear mention. What is more, they are all necessary conditions. If you fail on any one of these steps, you will reduce your chance of success to practically nothing. Think about it. If you were a reviewer, would you recommend for funding a proposal that doesn’t meet these criteria? So why then do fully half the proposals submitted flagrantly omit them? It’s a fact. Most proposals do not follow these simple steps for success. Therein lies your opportunity. If you take the time to follow these steps, your proposal will be that much better by comparison, and you will vastly increase your chance of success.

There is a dark side and a bright side to this. On the dark side, it is not easy to write a good proposal. It takes time and effort to assure that all the above steps are met. Indeed, it can take several months to prepare a good proposal. But, on the bright side, if you do take the time to write good proposals, you will have a much higher success rate, and overall you will spend a much smaller fraction of your life writing proposals. Taking the time to do it right really pays off.
There are two more things that you can do to vastly improve your prospects for success as an academic researcher. First, you have to know yourself as well as you can. Who are you ? Where are you going ? Where do you want to go ? I strongly urge people, especially young faculty just starting their careers, to write a strategic plan for their life. Where are you today? Where do you want to be in five years, ten years, and twenty years? Then create a roadmap of how to get from where you are to where you want to be in the future. The focus of this roadmap should be the things over which you have control, and it should acknowledge the things over which you have no control. If you can’t write such a plan, then your goals for the future are not realistic. You can revise the plan as often as you wish. But the fact that the plan exists will influence your proposal in a very positive way, as it will place the research project you propose into the broad context of your life plan.

Finally, no matter how much sense the above steps seem to make, everyone retains a bit of skepticism. “Hey, if this guy really knew what he was talking about, wouldn’t he be doing it rather than teaching it?” There is nothing quite like being on the other side of the fence to change your opinion of the process. Volunteer to be a reviewer yourself. It’s easy. Just volunteer. Then you will see how you judge proposals. You will see that your opinions are pretty much identical to the other reviewers, and that you rate proposals pretty much the same as everyone else. Then you will see for yourself that these twelve steps provide nothing more or less than what you would be looking for in someone else’s proposal that you are reviewing.

The 5th International Conference on Image and Graphics

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:18:00 +0000

ICIG 2009 – the 5th International Conference on Image and Graphics will be held in Sep. 21-24, 2009, in Xi'an . Sponsored by the China Society of Image & Graphics, ICIG is the most comprehensive biennial conference focused on the various aspects of advances in Image and Graphics. The goal of this conference is to bring together the researchers from academia and industry as well as practitioners to share ideas, problems and solutions relating to the multifaceted aspects of image and graphics. This conference will feature world-class plenary speakers, exhibits, and a large number of oral and poster presentations.

第五届国际图象图形学术会议(ICIG’2009)将由中国图象图形学学会主办，西北工业大学承办，于2009年9月21日至24日在中国陕西省西安市召开，大会每两年举办一次，着重关注图象图形领域的各方面的进展。本次大会的目的是将集合学术界和工业界的研究员以及工作者来分享关于图形图像各方面的思想、问题以及解决方案。这个会议的特点是国际级的演讲者、展示作品，以及大量的口头和书面报告。

The conference seeks new and original contributions on any aspect of image and graphics including following topics:

Image processing (Capture, Coding, Transmission, Storage, Enhancement, Restoration, Reconstruction, etc.)
Image analysis (Segmentation, Representation, Description, Measurement, Texture, Motion, etc.)
Image understanding (Matching, Fusion, Scene interpretation, 3-D modeling, etc.)
Pattern recognition applications (Character, Speech, Image, Video, etc.)
Computer vision (3-D, Active, Real-time, Stereo, Machine Learning, etc.)
Computer Graphics (Models and generation, etc.)
Visualization (algorithm, system, application)
Virtual reality (Models, Augmented reality, Mixed Reality, Media immersion, etc.)
Applications of Image and Graphics (Telecommunication, Bio-medical, Document, Remote sensing, Industrial, etc.)
Data fusion (Character, Image, Video, target tracking based on image or video or speech, etc.)
Game and Animation (Story-telling, game engine, 3D game, mobile game, animation, virtual human)
Other related technology of image and graphic Papers in the main technical program must describe original research.

All the papers selected for the conference will be published in ICIG 2009 Proceedings which will be published by the IEEE Computer Society Press(USA).

会议内容包括：
（1）图象处理（采集、储存、编码、传输、增强、恢复、重建等）
（2）图象分析（分割、特征提取、测量、表达、纹理、运动等）
（3）图象理解（匹配、场景解释、 3-D 模型等）
（4）模式识别应用（文档、语言、图象、视频等）
（5）计算机视觉（主动、实时、立体等）
（6）图形（模型和生成、动画和可视化等）
（7）多媒体信息融合和处理 (数字视频、视觉信息发布等 )
（8）虚拟现实，增强现实和媒体沉浸
（9）多媒体数据库（管理、查询模型、索引、检索、挖掘等）
（10）网上图象图形技术应用
（11）游戏和动画（游戏引擎，3D游戏，移动游戏，动画，虚拟人）
（12）图象图形其它相关技术等。

Submission of Papers : Jun.1, 2009
Notification of Acceptance : Jul. 31, 2009
Camera-Ready Copy : Aug. 20, 2009
Author Registration : Aug.01, 2009
Conference : Sep.21-Sep.24, 2009

重要日期：

投稿截至日期:Jun.01, 2009
稿件接受通知日期:Jul.31, 2009
正式稿件截至日期:Aug. 20, 2009

惠普与亚利桑那州立大学联合展示柔韧不易碎的软性显示器产品原型

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 03:02:00 +0000

惠普与亚利桑那州立大学的软性显示器中心(Flexible Display Center，FDC) 日前宣布已开发出首款成本合理的软性电子显示产品原型。软性显示器(flexible displays )为几乎完全以塑料为材料所制成的纸状计算机显示器。这项技术让显示器便得容易携带，同时相较今日的计算机显示器，也可消耗较低的电力。这项技术未来普遍的应用包括电子纸 ( electronic paper)和电子招牌 (signage)。这项开发的成就代表了业界为高分辨率软性显示器创造大众市场的一个重要里程碑。除此之外，从环保的角度而言，这款显示器也跳脱了传统的显示器制程，节省了90%的材料使用量。这类显示器的量产可以降低笔记型计算机、智能型手机和其它电子产品装置的生产成本，因为显示器一向是这类产品当中成本最为高昂的组件之一。这款柔韧不易碎的显示器是由亚利桑那州立大学的软性显示器中心(FDC)和惠普使用由惠普实验室所研发的 self-aligned imprint lithography (SAIL) 技术开发完成的。SAIL之所以称为“自我校准”(self ali gned )，是因为其图型信息压印在基板上的方式能够不受处理引起(process-induced)的扭曲变形影响，而维持完美的校准。 SAIL 技术使得能够以低成本的卷对卷(roll-to-roll)制程，在软性塑料材料上制作薄膜晶体管数组。这么一来可以达成相较于片对片(sheet-to-sheet)的批量生产更符合成本效益的连续性生产。 “惠普与软性显示器中心(FDC)所开发的这款显示器证明了这项技术，并且展示了我们即将为不断快速成长中的显示器市场，所带来的卓越创新能力。”惠普实验室的Information Surfaces部门总监Carl Taussig表示，“除了提供较低成本的制程之外，SAIL技术也代表了一种更为永续、更为环保的电子显示器生产方式。”
软性显示器的生产
软性显示器的第一次实际演示是透过惠普和软性显示器中心(FDC)之间的协同合作所达成，同时也有赖其它软性显示器中心(FDC)合作伙伴，包括DuPont Teijin Films和E Ink公司的贡献。为了制造这款显示器，软性显示器中心(FDC)利用DuPont Teijin Films提供的软性Teonex®聚萘二甲酸乙二酯(Polyethylene Naphthalate ,PEN)基板，在上面制造出半导体材料及金属堆栈。

之后惠普使用SAIL 流程压印基板，接着再整合E Ink的 Vizplex™ 影像薄膜，制造出主动式软性显示器。E Ink的 Vizplex双稳态电泳(bi-stable electrophoretic)影像薄膜能够在无需电压供应的情况下仍保留影像，进而大幅减少观看内容时的功率消耗。

“不使用光蚀刻技术的软性主动矩阵显示器充分展现了软性显示器中心 (FDC)世界级的开发与制造生产基础架构。”亚利桑那州立大学软性显示器中心工程部门总监Shawn O’Rourke表示，“其证明了多个工业合作伙伴可以如何在创新解决方案上面协同合作，包括利用卷对卷 (roll-to-roll)兼容技术以因应市场对软性电子产品快速成长的需求。” “软性电子显示器在全球高科技产业当中扮演着一个日益吃重的角色，对于推动包括电子阅读器(e-reader)与其它结合行动性与便利使用者接口的新一代可携式装置而言，是至关重要的一门科技。 ”

iSuppli的中小型显示器总分析师Vinita Jakhanwal表示，“我们预计软性显示器市场的规模将会从2007年的8000万美元，成长到2013年的28亿美元。亚利桑纳州立大学的软性显示器中心在此当中扮演重要的角色，协助开发相关科技与制造体系以支持本市场。” FDC是一个政府-大学-学术界的合作关系中心，其任务是推动发展全彩色软性电子显示技术并使之商业化。经由美国陆军和美国亚利桑那州立大学10年合作协议成立，而且FDC也与世界许多领先的显示技术、材料和工艺设备供货商有着密切的伙伴关系。

http://article.sichinamag.com/2008-12/20081211060331.htm

2007年度科技论文统计结果公布中国科学院继续位居前列

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:09:00 +0000

12月9日，中国科学技术信息研究所在北京公布了“2007年度中国科技论文统计结果”。2007年，SCI共收录中国科技论文94800篇，比2006年增长33.5%，排美国和英国之后居世界第三位；EI收录中国论文78200篇，比2006年增长20.3%，第一次超过美国，居世界第一位；ISTP收录中国论文45331篇，占世界总数的10.1%，排在世界第二位。
该统计结果显示，中国作者发表在国际主要科技期刊和重要会议上的论文共20.8万篇，比2006年增加3.6万篇，占世界比例的9.8%，比上一年增长了1.4%。按照国际论文数量排序，中国居世界第二位，与2006年相同。论文总数排在世界前5位的国家分别是美国、中国、日本、英国和德国。在2007年度的科技论文与引文统计工作中，国际论文数据主要取自3种在国际上颇具影响的检索工具：《科学引文索引》（SCI）、《工程索引》（EI）和《科学技术会议录索引》（ISTP）。
2007年，主要反映基础研究状况的SCI所收录的中国科技论文数达到94800万篇，占世界的7.5%，排在全球第三位，处于美国和英国之后。中国科技人员作为第一作者于2002年至2006年发表的SCI论文，在2007年被引用论文数量由64186篇增加到78852篇；被引用次数由171198次增加到216057次，增长率分别为22.4%和26.2%。
在反映工程科学研究情况的EI收录期刊论文中，2007年共收录中国论文78200篇，占世界论文总数的19.6%，第一次超过美国，排在世界第一位。
会议论文是除期刊以外，科研成果产出的一个重要补充。ISTP汇集了全世界每年出版的自然科学、医学、农学科学和工程技术领域90%的会议文献。2007年，ISTP共收录中国科技工作者在主要国际会议上发表的论文45331篇，占世界总数的10.1%，排在世界第二。中国的国际会议论文增长量大于世界平均水平。中国科技人员共参加了在73个国家（地区）召开的2416个国际会议。
2007年，SCI收录的中国内地论文中，国际合作产生的论文为20828篇。其中，中国学者为第一作者的国际合著论文11355篇，合作伙伴涉及90个国家（地区）；其他国家作者为第一作者、中国作者参与工作的国际合著论文为9473篇，合作伙伴涉及77个国家（地区）。
中国科技论文与引文数据库（CSTPCD）在2007年共收录1765种中国科技核心期刊。中国科技人员作为第一作者发表论文463122篇，与2006年相比增加了58264篇，增长了14.4%。海外科技人员作为第一作者发表论文3182篇，比2006年增加了232篇。
专利授权可以从另一个方面反映基础研究和应用的创新成果，12月9日公布的专利统计数据显示，2007年中国在美国专利商标局、日本专利局和欧洲专利局申请注册的专利共5714件，三方专利数为525件。

中国科学院仍是主力军
在公布的“2007年度中国科技论文统计结果”中，作为科研国家队的中国科学院在多项统计排名中继续位居前列。
2007年被SCI收录论文数最多的20个研究机构全部为中国科学院下属研究院所，共被收录论文6402篇。其中，中科院化学所位列第一，为650篇；中科院长春应用化学所为541篇，名列第二；中科院物理所、中科院上海生命科学院、中科院大连化物所和中科院金属所分列三至六位。中国科学技术大学在中国被SCI收录论文数最多的20所高校中，以1509篇名列第五。前4所高等学校分别是浙江大学、清华大学、上海交通大学和北京大学。
在2007年度中国被EI收录论文数最多的20个研究机构中，除排名第九的中国工程物理研究院外，其余均为中国科学院下属研究院所，共被收录论文4763篇。中科院化学所名列第一，被收录论文437篇；中科院金属所为414篇，名列第二；中科院长春应用化学所、中科院上海硅酸盐所、中科院物理所、中科院上海光学精密机械所分列三至六位。中国科学技术大学在中国被EI收录论文数最多的20所高校中以1101篇位列第十四。
在2007年度ISTP收录论文的排序中，前10位均为中国科学院下属研究院所，共被收录论文1201篇，中科院自动化所位列第一，为235篇。
值得一提的是，2007年度国际论文被引用篇数排名前20的研究机构全部为中科院所属研究院所，论文共计被引用12095篇，被引用次数达39645次。中国科学技术大学在2007年度国际论文被引用篇数排名前20所高校中位列第四，论文共计被引用2729篇，被引用次数8182次。

高校成果亦丰
2007年SCI收录论文数最多的前20所中国高等学校分别是浙江大学、清华大学、上海交通大学、北京大学、中国科技大学、复旦大学、南京大学、四川大学、哈尔滨工业大学、山东大学、华中科技大学、吉林大学、中山大学、大连理工大学、武汉大学、南开大学、中南大学、天津大学、西安交通大学和兰州大学。SCI共收录这20所高校论文28264篇。
清华大学、浙江大学和哈尔滨工业大学分列EI收录论文数最多的20所中国高等学校前3名，其中清华大学被EI收录论文3393篇。
在有关高等学校2007年国际科技会议论文数的统计分析中，清华大学、哈尔滨工业大学和浙江大学分列ISTP收录论文数最多的20所中国高等学校前3名，其中清华大学被ISTP收录论文1752篇。
在有关国内论文数的统计中，上海交通大学、华中科技大学和中南大学列国内论文数最多的前20所高校的前3名，上海交通大学等国内论文数最多的前20所高校2007年共发表论文86118篇。浙江大学、清华大学和北京大学成为2007年国际论文被引用数最多的前20所高校的前3名。浙江大学、北京大学和上海交通大学等20所高等院校成为2007年国内论文被引用次数最多的高校，其论文共被引用267603次。

有趣力学：Stress-driven buckling patterns in spheroidal core/shell structures

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:08:00 +0000

Abstract：Many natural fruits and vegetables adopt an approximately spheroidal shape and are characterized by their distinct undulating topologies. We demonstrate that various global pattern features can be reproduced by anisotropic stress-driven buckles on spheroidal core/shell systems, which implies that the relevant mechanical forces might provide a template underpinning the topological conformation in some fruits and plants. Three dimensionless parameters, the ratio of effective size/thickness, the ratio of equatorial/polar radii, and the ratio of core/shell moduli, primarily govern the initiation and formation of the patterns. A distinct morphological feature occurs only when these parameters fall within certain ranges: In a prolate spheroid, reticular buckles take over longitudinal ridged patterns when one or more parameters become large. Our results demonstrate that some universal features of fruit/vegetable patterns (e.g., those observed in Korean melons, silk gourds, ribbed pumpkins, striped cavern tomatoes, and cantaloupes, etc.) may be related to the spontaneous buckling from mechanical perspectives, although the more complex biological or biochemical processes are involved at deep levels.

应力是影响有机与无机世界里各种生长过程的重要因素，因此是生长与形态研究所必须考虑的关键因素。近年来，国际上关于应力驱动结构失稳在薄膜上引起的各种花样的研究取得了许多重要的进展。这些研究对于理解各种花样包括皱纹、材料断裂、薄膜表面形貌提供了深入的认识。但是，在这些工作了所涉及的都是有开放边界的曲面或平面，它们在拓扑学上都是亏格数为1的表面。对于亏格数为0的闭合曲面上的应力屈曲形态及其在理解自然方面的意义则鲜有涉及。

该系列的最新研究工作以“Stress-driven buckling patterns in spheroidal core/shell structures”为题发表在美国《国家科学院院刊》（PNAS 105，1932，2008）上。

Famous professors for Nonholonomic Mechanics and Control

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Professor Jerrold E. Marsden

Carl F Braun Professor of Engineering and Control & Dynamical Systems, California Institute of Technology

Expertise

Mechanics, dynamics and control systems. Mechanical systems with symmetry analyzed using geometric, analytical, and computational techniques as well as dynamical systems, control theory, and bifurcation theory. Applications are made to a variety of engineering and spacecraft systems.

Research Areas

Jerrold Marsden is a professor of Control and Dynamical Systems at Caltech. He has done extensive research in the area of geometric mechanics, with applications to rigid body systems, fluid mechanics, elasticity theory, plasma physics, as well as to general field theory. His work in dynamical systems and control theory emphasizes how it relates to mechanical systems and systems with symmetry. He is one of the original founders in the early 1970's of reduction theory for mechanical systems with symmetry, which remains an active and much studied area of research today.

Nonholonomic Mechanics and Control(INTERNET SUPPLEMENT)

Professor Joris Vankerschaver

I am a postdoc with Jerrold Marsden at CDS in Caltech. I'm a Fulbright fellow as well as a research assistant from the Research Foundation -- Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen). Before that I completed my Ph.D. thesis at Ghent University (Belgium) at the Department of Mathematical Physics and Astronomy.
My current research interests include the following (in order of definiteness):
Geometric reduction for solid bodies in vortical flow;
Variational principles in field theory and Dirac structures;
Space/time adapating discretizations of field theories;
Everything else :-)
I am currently in the process of migrating to a new website. In the meantime, you can consult my old webpage for my publications and information about classes I teach and upcoming conferences.

APL设立新主题章节：Organic Electronics and Photonics

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:54:00 +0000

Editorial: Announcement of new topical section—Organic Electronics and Photonics

Nghi Q. Lam, Editor

Applied Physics Letters Editorial Office, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439-4843, USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The beginning of a New Year is now upon us. It brings with it new challenges and unlimited opportunities. We would like to take this occasion to wish our readers, authors, and reviewers peace, happiness, and success throughout 2008 and bright hopes for the future.

The enriching contributions of our authors from some 85 countries and the professional, dedicated participation of our many colleagues in the peer-review process over the years are the real source of strength and success of Applied Physics Letters. We would like to express our deepest gratitude for their enthusiasm, help, and constant support.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Starting with the first issue of 2008, Applied Physics Letters (APL) will carry a new Section Heading in its Table of Contents:

33—Organic Electronics and Photonics

to provide a common field for manuscripts in this subject category. APL has published many high-quality papers on organic light-emitting devices, thin-film transistors, memories, capacitors, photodiodes, and photovoltaic cells, etc., in the past, more and more in recent years; however, they appeared in various sections of the Journal's Table of Contents. By creating a new section for this particular category, we hope to bring these papers into focus and give them better visibility.

Grouped in this new section will be original, theoretical, and experimental research articles on the physics and engineering of new materials and device concepts for organic electronics and photonics. This subset of papers will eventually become the contents of a new APL-branded, online-only product, APL: Organic Electronics and Photonics (APL: OEP), starting in the early Summer of 2008. Subscribers to APL will automatically have access to this new product. It is hoped that APL: OEP, which will be organized into monthly issues and be complete with navigational and searching tools, will help to bring this subset of applied-physics articles to an even broader audience.

Submissions should be sent to the parent journal, APL, as usual. When APL: OEP has made its debut, new articles in this Journal will be published simultaneously with their appearance in the online version of APL. Citations to articles appearing in APL: OEP should be the standard citation in APL; this is the citation as it appears in the Table of Contents and the full text article.

http://scitation.aip.org/journals/doc/APPLAB-ft/vol_92/iss_1/010401_1.html

中国力学学会学术大会2009

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:32:00 +0000

中国力学学会学术大会2009首页：
http://www.cstam.org.cn/cstam2009/index.asp

分会场申请进展，比较集中某一子领域的讨论：
http://www.cstam.org.cn/cstam2009/detail.asp?classid=2&id=92

专题研讨会申请进展，即目前拥有的专题内容：
http://www.cstam.org.cn/cstam2009/detail.asp?classid=2&id=88

大会组委会：http://www.cstam.org.cn/cstam2009/about.asp?classid=3&id=10

主办单位：中国力学学会

承办单位：郑州大学

历届大会

the 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:49:00 +0000

the 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications (16 - 18 December, 2009, Orchard Hotel, Singapore)

website：http://icira2009.robotics.sg/index.php

Important Dates:

Preliminary Announcement：15 November 2008
First Call for Papers ： 15 December 2008
Second Call for Papers ： 15 February 2009
Submission of Full Papers ： 15 June 2009
Paper Acceptance ： 15 August 2009
Submission of Final Papers ： 15 September 2009
Early Bird Registration ： 30 September 2009
Technical Program ： 30 September 2009
Conference ：16 - 18 December 2009

First International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications (15 - 17 October, 2008, Wuhan, China) (website)

Webhub: WorldWide Electroactive Polymer

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:51:00 +0000

WorldWide Electroactive Polymer Actuators* Webhub
http://eap.jpl.nasa.gov/

This homepage provides links to various electroactive polymer (EAP) websites worldwide and it is maintained by the JPL's NDEAA Technologies Lab. For background information please see a lecture on video entitled "Electroactive Polymers as Artificial Muscles" or see the following article [Keynote Presentation at the Robotics 2000 and Space 2000, NM, USA] entitled: "EAP as Artificial Muscles - Capabilities, Potentials and Challenges". The field of EAP is part of the broader field of biomimetics

In 1999, Dr. Bar-Cohen posed a challenge to the worldwide research and engineering community to develop a robotic arm that is actuated by artificial muscles to win an armwrestling match against a human opponent. The first Armwrestling Match between EAP actuated Robot and Human (AMERAH) was held on March 7, 2005 as part of the 2005 SPIE Annual International EAPAD (EAP Actuators & Devices) Conference. This match was organized with assistance from the United States ArmSports who provided the table for the match. There were three participating organizations including Environmental Robots Incorporated (ERI), New Mexico; Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, EMPA, Dubendorf, Switzerland; and three senior students from the Engineering Science and Mechanics Dept., Virginia Tech. The human opponent is Panna Felsen, a Straight-A high school student from San Diego. Panna won against all the three robotic arms where the ERI made arm managed to last 26-seconds before losing while the other two managed to hold for 4 and 3 seconds, respectively. Even though they did not win, this has been a very important milestone for the field. To draw analogy from aerospace, one may want to remember that the first flight lasted about 12 seconds. A video of the competition is available on the Discovery channel's Daily Planet, March 15, 2005.

Organic transistors manufactured using inkjet technology with subfemtoliter accuracy

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:48:00 +0000

Organic transistors manufactured using inkjet technology with subfemtoliter accuracy
A major obstacle to the development of organic transistors for large-area sensor, display, and circuit applications is the fundamental compromise between manufacturing efficiency, transistor performance, and power consumption. In the past, improving the manufacturing efficiency through the use of printing techniques has inevitably resulted in significantly lower performance and increased power consumption, while attempts to improve performance or reduce power have led to higher process temperatures and increased manufacturing cost. Here, we lift this fundamental limitation by demonstrating subfemtoliter inkjet printing to define metal contacts with single-micrometer resolution on the surface of high-mobility organic semiconductors to create high-performance p-channel and n-channel transistors and low-power complementary circuits. The transistors employ an ultrathin low-temperature gate dielectric based on a self-assembled monolayer that allows transistors and circuits on rigid and flexible substrates to operate with very low voltages. 更多阅读（英文）PNAS发表论文摘要

more about All-inkjet-printed flexible electronics and its manufacturing.

新喷墨技术可提高晶体管性能：科学家们最近开发出一种新的喷墨技术，其喷射出的墨点比一般机器的小一千倍，因此可以在软性塑料微芯片上打印出只有微米大小的银布线。这一新技术的应用不仅可以降低微芯片的制作成本和能源消耗，还可以提高晶体管的性能。相关论文发表在美国《国家科学院院刊》（PNAS）上。
Tsuyoshi Sekitani所在的研究小组对喷墨打印机的打印头施加高电压，从而使机内的墨点爆裂成直径大约一微米的小型墨点。通过使用由纳米银粒子和有机溶剂组成的墨水，研究人员成功地连续打印出仅两微米宽的银布线，尽管就当前的微处理器标准来说这一尺寸并不小，但是这已经可以满足一些简单的应用，比如柔性显示器。为在精细的有机晶体管层上打印，更小尺寸的墨点比现有的墨水更为安全。有机晶体管层是塑料微芯片的基础，若墨点的尺寸减小，墨水中具有潜在破坏性的溶剂会蒸发得更快。研究人员还发现，增压喷墨打印头打印出的银布线会在130摄氏度的时候熔化，而一般的喷墨打印机打印出的银布线需要150摄氏度，相比之下，更低的温度可以保证有机晶体管不会同时受损。研究人员利用这种新型技术制造出了可用的有机回路，上面布满了间距一微米的平行银布线，这是迄今为止打印出的晶体管中最小的活动“沟道”区。（来源：EurekAlert!中文版） http://www.sciencenet.cn/htmlpaper/20083251453395311590.html
（《国家科学院院刊》（PNAS），doi：10.1073/pnas.0708340105，Tsuyoshi Sekitani，Takao Someya）

Proceedings: Intelligent Robotics and Applications

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:59:00 +0000

The 2008 International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications (ICIRA 2008) was the first event in this conference series. These two volumes constitute the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications, ICIRA 2008, held in Wuhan, China, in October 2008. In this conference, I acted as a secretary-general.
After the success of the inaugural conference, the purpose of the 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications (16 - 18 December, 2009, Orchard Hotel, Singapore) is to provide a venue where researchers, scientists, engineers and practitioners throughout the world can come together to present and discuss the latest achievement, future challenges and exciting applications of intelligent and autonomous robots.
link: http://www.chinamaker.org/2008/11/proceedings-intelligent-robotics-and.html

The 265 revised full papers presented were thoroughly reviewed and selected from 552 submissions; they are devoted but not limited to robot motion planning and manipulation; robot control; cognitive robotics; rehabilitation robotics; health care and artificial limb; robot learning; robot vision; human-machine interaction & coordination; mobile robotics; micro/nano mechanical systems; manufacturing automation; multi-axis surface machining; realworld applications.Two proceedings: Part I: Intelligent Robotics and Applications. Xiong, C., Liu, H., Huang, Y. (et al.) (Eds.), 2008 ... More. Part II: Intelligent Robotics and Applications. Xiong, C., Liu, H., Huang, Y. (et al.) (Eds.), 2008 ... More

I CIRA 2008 was advocated by the International Workshop on Robotic Grasping and Fixturing in June 2007, Wuhan, China. Robotics research, however, involves a wide spectrum of research and applications from the first industrial manipulator to Mars rovers, and from surgery robotics to cognitive robotics. Industrial and real-world applications are the force driving the research frontier further forward. The aim of the ICIRA 2008 conference is to promote interactions and collaborations between disciplines, which are beneficial in bringing fruitful solutions to the forefront, and to be an international forum that brings together those actively involved in intelligent robotics and applications.
These volumes of Springer’s Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Computer Science contain papers accepted for presentation at ICIRA 2008, held in Wuhan, China, October 15–17, 2008. The conference received 552 submissions from all over the world, which were subsequently peer refereed by the Program Committee, with the assistance of external referees. Among them, 265 high-quality papers were accepted for presentation at the conference, covering the most active topics on intelligent robotics such as robot cognition, robot learning, robot vision, motion planning, multifingered manipulation and intelligent control. Advances in robotized equipments applied in rehabilitation and medical robotics, health care and artificial limbs, digital manufacturing, electronic manufacturing, and manufacturing automation are also reported. The authors come from the following countries and regions: Australia, Austria, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK, and USA. In addition, ICIRA 2008 held a series of plenary talks, where we were fortunate to have such keynote speakers as Peter Luh, Tianmiao Wang, Jiping He, and Jun Wang, who shared their expertise with us in diverse topic areas spanning the range of intelligent robotics and application activities.
The Chinese News of ICIRA 2008 can be found at http://www.hust.edu.cn/content/content_25647.html.
The vedio of ICIRA 2008 can be browsed at http://tv.hustonline.net/html/2008-10-24/54800.shtml.

Report Identifies Three Key R&D Priorities For Future Manufacturing

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:13:00 +0000

A new report published today identifies and describes research and development priorities for the future of three critical, high-tech U.S. manufacturing areas – hydrogen energy technologies, nanomanufacturing, and intelligent and integrated manufacturing. The report, Manufacturing the Future: Federal Priorities for Manufacturing R&D, was prepared by the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Manufacturing R&D of the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Committee on Technology.
"Our objective was to focus on issues of national importance, and to identify manufacturing areas that have the potential to deliver major benefits to the economy," said David Stieren, executive secretary of the group that produced the report and technology deployment manager of the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership. "These benefits include creating new jobs, enhancing manufacturing competitiveness and making progress toward accomplishing major national goals,” he said.
Competing successfully in today’s fast-paced global community requires rapid innovation, research and production methods to cost-effectively bring products to market. The report describes the significance of each of the three critical manufacturing R&D areas, details the challenges essential for progress, discusses existing interagency collaborations and provides recommendations for future research.
The report cites these manufacturing areas as being important to U.S. economic and national security. It identifies these areas as potentially leveraging scientific and technological advances to transform knowledge and materials into valuable products. Much of this research falls under the American Competitiveness Initiative, a government-funded mandate to increase investments in R&D, education and entrepreneurship. These manufacturing areas also correspond to existing priorities established by the federal government through the President’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, and the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program.

Three Key R&D Priorities for Future Manufacturing
Manufacturing the Future: Federal Priorities for Manufacturing R & D identifies these three critical high-tech U.S. manufacturing areas and the interdependencies between them as R&D priorities for the future.
Manufacturing R&D for Hydrogen Energy Technologies
In order to improve energy security and clean air, the U.S. government is committed to replace petroleum with alternative energy technologies including hydrogen to power cars and light trucks. Meeting this challenge requires developing low-cost, high-volume manufacturing processes to produce affordable and reliable fuel cell vehicle technology and to build and maintain a hydrogen fuel infrastructure. Other manufacturing challenges include standardizing components and systems design for production, overcoming the technical problems of delivering hydrogen and mass producing fuel cells, and developing high-volume storage tanks.
Nanomanufacturing
Nanotechnology is expected to be a critical driver of future economic growth, affecting potentially every industry from aerospace and energy to health care and agriculture. Nanomanufacturing encompasses industrial-scale production of materials, structures, devices, and systems with nanoscale components whose unique properties derive from engineering at the nanoscale (roughly 1 to 100 nanometers or billionths of a meter). In order for nanomaterials to be mass produced reliably and affordably, scientists and engineers have to overcome hurdles relative to developing top-down processes (miniaturizing devices and structures to their smallest possible sizes) and bottom-up approaches (building nanostructures and nanodevices from the ground up by using tiny building blocks).
Intelligent and Integrated Manufacturing R&D
Information technology can reshape almost all features of manufacturing, from product development and design, through distribution and customer support. Intelligent and Integrated Manufacturing applies computer software, controls, sensors, networks and other information technology to the entire process. This includes using software to rapidly design and test new products, or linking “smart” supply chains to make sure there are always enough raw materials to build products and efficient methods to get them to customers on time. These computer-enhanced processes are central to creating a hydrogen-powered economy, improving national security, developing innovative real-world applications of nanotechnology and to other national goals for the future. Increasing computing power and the availability of inexpensive sensors and network devices opens the door to designing new processes to optimize capabilities, performance and value.
Interdependencies
These three research sectors are also interdependent. For example, the design and cost-effective production of nanomaterials to store hydrogen may be critical to our country’s transition away from an oil-dependent transportation system. Also, intelligent, flexible manufacturing may reduce the time and cost of incorporating nanoscale components into real world applications, according to the report. Finally, the three research sectors offer an opportunity to contribute to sustainable manufacturing by incorporating materials, processes, and systems that use energy and materials effectively and use environmentally preferable materials.

Call for paper: the 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Application

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:06:00 +0000

After the success of the inaugural conference, the purpose of the 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications (16 - 18 December, 2009, Orchard Hotel, Singapore) is to provide a venue where researchers, scientists, engineers and practitioners throughout the world can come together to present and discuss the latest achievement, future challenges and exciting applications of intelligent and autonomous robots. In order to benefit all participants, and also to maximize the interaction, the technical program of this conference is intentionally tailored to having relatively few parallel tracks. Each track will accommodate peer-reviewed articles dealing with theoretical, experimental and applicative works. In addition to the technical program, the conference will include several keynote speakers and a common poster session.
The market demands for skills, knowledge and personalities have positioned robotics to be one important field in both engineering and science. In order to meet these challenging demands, robotics has already seen its success in automating many industrial tasks in factories. And, a new era will come for us to see a greater success of robotics in non-industrial environments. In order to anticipate a wider deployment of intelligent and autonomous robots for tasks such as manufacturing, eldercare, homecare, edutainment, search and rescue, de-mining, surveillance, exploration, and security missions, it is necessary for us to push the frontier of robotics into a new dimension, in which motion and intelligence play equally important roles.
More about the first International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications can be found here.
Jointly organized by Nanyang Technological University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, National University of Singapore, and Singapore Polytechnic.

中国力学学会设立“微纳米力学工作组”和“电子电磁器件力学工作组”

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:05:00 +0000

根据中国力学学会第八届理事会第4次全体常务理事会关于同意设立“微纳米力学工作组”和“电子电磁器件力学工作组”的决议，日前，以郑泉水为组长的“微纳米力学工作组”和以王骥为组长的“电子电磁器件力学工作组”的2个工作组已正式设立，其工作组成员名单也一并讨论通过。
随着硅时代日益趋向极限，微电子产业逐步深入到纳米尺度，微纳米力学属于新兴交叉学科，研究内容与物理、化学、生物、材料、精密制造等密切交叉。在我国众多大学、研究所的力学工作者已经掀起了与微纳米力学相关的研究热潮，不仅在国际上取得了一些高显示度的研究成果，而且形成了一支基础素质较高的研究队伍。“中国力学学会微纳米力学工作组”将组织、引导我国力学工作者有效参与纳米科技研究，促进我国微纳米固体、流体和生物力学的交叉研究，促进纳米科技时代力学与相关工程学科和基础学科的深度交流，促进国内和国际相关领域的学术交流。
电子和电磁器件在现代高科技中起着十分关键的甚至核心的作用，产品种类繁多，应用十分广泛，在其设计、制造和运用中都孕育着大量的的力学问题，为力学工作者提供了丰富且十分具有挑战性的研究课题。“中国力学学会电子电磁器件力学工作组”的设立将有助于力学这一传统学科新兴的电子、传感器、智能结构、微机电系统（MEMS）、精密仪器、生命科学、新材料和新能源等重要领域和行业的交融和合作。

International Conference on Nanoscience & Technology, China 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:37:00 +0000

Welcome address from the Chairman:On behalf of the organizing committee, I would like to invite you to participate in the International Conference on Nanoscience and Technology, China 2009 (ChinaNANO 2009) which will be held between September 1-3, 2009 in Beijing, China. This is the third conference following ChinaNANO 2005 and ChinaNANO 2007 held in 2005 and in 2007 in Beijing, respectively. ChinaNANO 2009 is intended to stimulate discussions on the forefront of research in nanoscience and technology. The conference will focus on nano-information materials, nano-energy and environmental materials, nano-devices and sensors, nano-medicine, nano-pharmacy and biomedical engineering, nano-fabrication, characterization of nanostructures, nano-optics and plasmonics, and modeling and simulation of nanostructures. We sincerely hope that the scope of the conference will serve the interest of the scientific community, as well as the industry and the general public. I wish to extend my welcome to all participants and sponsors of the event.
Looking forward to meeting you in Beijing in 2009
With best wishes I remain,
Chunli BaiChairman, Organizing Committee of ChinaNANO 2009Executive Vice President, Chinese Academy of SciencesChairman, Council of National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China
在科技部、教育部、国家自然科学基金委员会、中国科学院、中国科协及其它部委的大力支持下，2005年和2007年，国家纳米科学中心成功举办了2005年中国国际纳米科学技术会议（简称：ChinaNANO 2005）和2007年中国国际纳米科学技术会议（简称：ChinaNANO 2007），分别吸引了来自40多个国家和地区的600多名和1000多名代表参加会议，在国内外学术界引起了较大的反响。为把ChinaNANO发展成为纳米科学技术领域的品牌会议，使其成为中国科学家与国际学术界交流沟通的桥梁，推动我国纳米科学技术研究的发展，国家纳米科学中心拟于2009年9月1-3日，在北京举办2009年中国国际纳米科学技术会议（简称：ChinaNANO 2009），中国科学院常务副院长白春礼院士担任大会主席。

一、会议名称
中文名称：2009年中国国际纳米科学技术会议
英文名称：International Conference on Nanoscience and Technology, China 2009（简称：ChinaNANO 2009）会议网站：http://www.chinanano.org/
二、会议内容
1.纳米信息材料
2.纳米能源与环境材料
3.纳米器件与传感器
4.纳米医药与纳米生物技术
5.纳米加工
6.纳米结构表征
7.纳米光学与表面等离基元学
8.纳米结构的模拟计算
三、大会组委会
大会主席：白春礼
副主席：解思深王中林
秘书长：朱星
副秘书长：王琛查连芳
四、会议规模与形式
1、会议规模预计600人，境外代表270人，会期3天。
2、大会设立大会特邀报告、分会特邀报告、一般口头报告和墙报。
五、会议论文集将由美国科学出版社在“Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology”期刊上发表
六、联系方式
联系人：汲志华电话：010--62652116 传真：010--62656765
E-mail: chinanano@nanoctr.cn

Impact of Chip-Package Interaction in Microelectronics

noreply@blogger.com (Yongan Huang) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:35:00 +0000

The exponential growth in integrated device density has yielded high-performance microprocessors containing almost 1 billion transistors per chip for the current 65 nm technology, up to now it is maybe 45nm technology. Continuous scaling of the devices and performance requires innovations in materials, processes, and designs for both back-end-of-line (BEoL) interconnects and packaging structures. Mechanical reliability has been a limiting factor for implementation of new materials and processes[1]. Electronic assemblies are the heart of all modern electronics. They house the essential chip, generate semiconductor input/output, and take care of the heat generated by the process. The explosive growth of communications and consumer electronics applications has suddenly made a knowledge of the fabrication process a very in-demand and lucrative skill. Even beginners, with no advanced degrees or mathematical backgrounds will be able to quickly and easily learn the entire electronic assembly fabrication process with this well-illustrated comprehensive tutorial[2].
It does not need to emphasize how important it is for our world, especially for academics to go out of papers and books. In the area of the mechanics of interconnects, Zhigang Suo recommanded two particular works in his blog. If you want to get into this research field, studying them might give a perspective. There two works are listed as following[1]:
R.H. Dauskardt, M. Lane, Q. Ma and N. Krishna, Adhesion and debonding of multilayer thin film structures. Engineering Fracture Mechanics 61, 141-162 (1998). This paper developed the 4-point bending method. Although the mechanics and the technique themselves were already known at the time, the collaboration between Reiner Dauskardt, of Standford, and Qing Ma, of Intel, really reduced the interfacial fracture mechanics to industrial practice. Their method is now widely adopted in the industry. This work has markedly enhanced the appreciation of fracture mechanics in the microelectronic industry.
M.A. Korhonen, P. Borgesen, K.N. Tu, and C.Y. Li, Stress evolution due to electromigration in confined metal lines. J. Appl. Phys. 73, 3790 (1993). This is a work resulting from a collaboration between Cornnel and IBM. Again, much of the basic ingredients was known when this paper was published. But the authors put the ingredients together, and clearly linked electromigration to the mechanical behavior of the interconnect structure. This paper has become the foundation of subsequent analysis of electromigration.
Both of these works remain important as we study low-k interconnect structures. Resouces to learn about challenges in the semiconductor industry:
International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. On this site you can download the famous Roadmaps, the industrial consensus of how to reach the moving target. The target, of course, has been to make Moore's law real. The Roadmaps spell out future needs of the industry, which drive today's research and development.
JEDEC. The developer of standards for the solid-state industry. All publications are free online. For example, JEP112 is entitled "Failure Mechanisms and Models for Silicon Devices".
to be continued
[1] http://www.imechanica.org/node/2880
[2] Electronic Assembly Fabrication : Chips, Circuit Boards, Packages, and Components