NEWSLETTER
A House  Journal of
IEEE Kerala Section
Volume 15 Number 2
April - June 2006


Contents

Chairman's Message
Dairy of Events

Forthcoming Events
ALL KERALA STUDENT CONGRESS - AKSC ’06
Students Activities
IEEE KERALA SECTION REPORT FOR YEAR 2005
Editorial
Hybrid Hard Disk Drives – An Emerging Technovasion
Gobal News - News Around IEEE


Chairman’s Message

Dear Professionals,

We need to put in more efforts to increase the membership in our section. Membership in IEEE is much valued in the professional community worldwide and has a lot to offer to the members.   Let me borrow the words of the IEEE President. “There are many tangible benefits associated with membership: career and professional development tools, discounts on products and services (both technical and non-technical), the award-winning Spectrum magazine, reduced conference registration fees, multiple opportunities to network with the leaders of the field, access to top technical information, an ever increasing number of continuing education courses, and much more”.

From September of this year, the Member-Get-A-Member (MGM) program is becoming very attractive to the members. First, the payout for recruited higher-grade members will be raised from the current $5.00, to $15.00 per member. Further, recruiters will have the option of using their reward vouchers to pay for IEEE products or services (including their membership renewal). I request every member to make use of this opportunity to add members to our section. Please do so by directing your colleagues to http://www.ieee.org/join to become a part of the IEEE Network.

Kerala Section has many associate members. It is possible to elevate the Associate Members to Members. The transition from Associate to Member grade grants several privileges. Members are permitted to vote in general IEEE elections, while Associates are not eligible to vote. Members holding Member grade or higher are permitted to hold volunteer office positions, while Associates are not eligible for officer positions. I request all the eligible associate members to apply for the elevation online at: http://www.ieee.org/organizations /rab/md/memelv.htm.

Many of our members who have completed 10 years of professional experience are eligible for elevation to Senior Member grade. Those eligible members can fill in their online application at: http://www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/ md/smelev.htm. For more details please contact our Membership Development Chair.

The annual election for various HQ positions and Region 10 positions is around the corner. I appeal to you to watch out for the election dates and cast your valuable vote.

Yours Sincerely,

Unnikrishnan A.K

Chairman, IEEE Kerala Section

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Diary of Events

   
31,02 -04-2006

All Kerala Student Congress - AKSC 06- of IEEE Kerala Section at MES College of Engineering, Kuttippuram.

01-04-2006

Video-conferencing through EDUSAT at AKSC-06 with senior officials at Thiruvananthapuram at 14.00 Hrs.

05-04-2006

Talk on ’Alzhimers Dementia - Facts and Myths’ by Vinod Thampi.

12-04-2006

Talk on ’A Composite Signal Control Strategy for Indian Roads’ - by P. Ravikumar.

19-04-2006

Talk on  ’Management in Ancient India’ by N.S.Madhavan.

19-04-2006 Meeting of student members of Jyothi Engineering College at College premises  to elect office bearers.
26-04-2006

Talk on ’Air Conditioning and Health’ by V.S.S.Nair.

29-04-2006

Executive Committee Meeting of IEEE Kerala Section at 16.30 Hrs at Harmonieee.

03-05-2006

Talk on ’Energy Saving in Air Conditioning’ by K.Madhusoodanan.

06-05-2006

WIE program at IE Hall - talk, quiz, lunch for students and visit to Science and Technology Museum in connection with National Technology Day 2006.

10-05-2006

’Disaster Management and ICTs - The Indian Ocean Tsunami Experience’ - talk by Annie George, Sathish Babu and Amarnath Raja at IE Hall at 17.45 Hrs.

24-05-2006

Talk on ’Gini Index to Measure  Inequality’ by S.S.Kaimal.

29-05-2006

Executive Committee Meeting of IEEE Kerala Section at Hotel South Park, at 11.00 Hrs.

31-05-2006

Higher Education and IT Employment’ - talk by R.Narayanan, Advisor, TCS at IE Hall at 17.45 Hrs.

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07-06-2006

Discussion on ’Building Rules - 1999’ headed by K. Thomas Paulose.

10-06-2006

Executive Committee Meeting of IEEE Kerala at 16.30 Hrs at Harmonieee.

14-06-2006

Talk on ’Forest and Environment’ by V.R.Krishnana Nair.

21-06-2006

Talk on ’Energy, Environment and CDM’ by R.Harikumar.

27-06-2006

 Online Meeting of students of  LINK.

28-06-2006

Talk on ’Value Engineering - An Effective Tool for Cost Reduction’ by N.T.Nair.

 

 

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Forthcoming Events

 

04-07-2006

Seminar on ’Recent advances in Nonlinear Control Systems’ at Amphitheatre, CDAC by V. Sundarapandian, Prof and Head of Instrumentation and Control Engg, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai with CDAC and IITMK.

05-07-2006

Talk on ’Energy Conservation in Lighting’, by R. Sudheer Kumar.

13 to 16 -07-2006

First GOLD Congress at Beijing, China, parallel with R10 Students Congress.

13 to17 -07-2007

R10 Student Congress at Beijing, China - Nithin Sha of Kerala Section is selected to attend.

28, 29-07-2006

National Conference on Recent Trends in Electronics and Information Technology, organized by SRES’s College of Engg and sponsored by IEEE Bombay Section.

29-07-2006

One day Tutorial on ’Frontiers in Computing Practice Aspect-Oriented Programming and JML: Novel Programming Paradigms for the Jawa Programmer, by Sathish Babu, InApp and Venkatesh Choppella, IIITM-K, organized by IEEE Computer Society of Kerala Section  at Amphi Theatre, CDAC, Thiruvananthapuram.

16 to 18 -08-2006

IEEE Conference on Industrial Informatics - ’INDIN 06’ at Singapore.

27-08-2006 to

01-09-2006

World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engg at Seoul, S.Korea.(For more details visit: http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/4/3308 /01224104)

22,23-09-2006

Conference on ’Mobile Computing’ - Annual Conference of IEEE Kerala Section at Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram.

14 to 17 -11-2006 Tencon 2006’ at Hong Kong.
06 to 08 -12-2006

Conference on business GIS  ’b-GIS@INDIA’  at Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram organised by GIS Society in association with Technopark, Department of Geology, University of Kerala. (For more details visit: http://www.gisesociety.org/bgisindia)

18 to 20 -12-2006 Conference on Electrical and Hybrid Vehicles organized at Poone by IEEE Bombay Section.
07 to 12-01-2007

International Conference on Communication System Software and Middleware - COMSWARE 2007, organized by IEEE Communications Society at  Bangalore. (For more details visit: http://www.comsware.org)

11 to 14 -02-2007

IEEE Conference on Information, Decision and Control - IDC at Adelaide, Australia.

11 to 15 -03-2007

IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference - WCNC 2007 at Hong Kong. (For more details visit: http://www.ieee-wcna.org)

   

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ALL KERALA STUDENT CONGRESS - AKSC ’06 -

A Report

The IEEE Student Branch of MES College of Engineering, Kuttippuram was quite fortunate to conduct the prestigious IEEE All Kerala Students Congress-2006(AKSC ’06) successfully from 31st March to 2nd April 2006. The sponsors were: Platinum Sponsor- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Gold Sponsor- Infosys and Co-Sponsors- InApp and Kerala IT Mission. All events could be conducted with utmost perfection to fulfill the IEEE objectives successfully. 150 Student delegates from various Student Branches participated with full enthusiasm and satisfaction.

31-03-’06 (DAY 1) - LINK MEET

               The first day was an exclusive meeting for the Local Integrated Network of Students Kerala (LINK) representatives from various Student Branches. K.N Premkumar, Student Activity Chair, inaugurated the LINK meet. The function started with silent prayer. Jarvie John Samuel, IEEE Student Branch Chair welcomed the gathering. The meeting was presided by P. V. Abdul Hameed, Vice Principal and HOD of ECE. Jaison Abey Sabu, IEEE Student Representative-2006 talked on the occasion and Manju Sreekumar, IEEE Student Branch Treasurer proposed vote of thanks.

K.N Premkumar reviewed the various Student Branch activities held for the last one year in different colleges. Appreciations and suggestions were cited to boost the membership and the standards of the program to a better level. Prijoe Philip Komatthu, IEEE Student Representative 2005, handled the leadership and management workshop, which literally imparted good skills and evoked more interaction and team building skills among the delegates. A short outing was conducted to the picturesque Beeyam Kayal near the Beach Town of Ponnani in Malappuram District. The delegates had a wonderful time for enjoyment. The aim of more active participation and interaction was achieved through this session. A talent night was conducted before dinner at 20.00 Hrs.

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01-04-’06 (DAY 2) - INAUGURATION OF AKSC ‘06

P. V. Abdul Hameed, Program Coordinator, Vice Principal and HOD of ECE presided over the function. Jarvie John Samuel, IEEE Student Branch Chair gave the welcome speech. Amarnath Raja, Vice Chair, IEEE Kerala Section inaugurated the Congress. It was done by a mouse click which saw a flash presentation explaining the theme of IEEE AKSC ’06 - “Participate, Collaborate, Make a Difference”. In his address K. P. Mohammed, Principal, MES CE, expressed his most sincere pleasure and pride in hosting the AKSC ’06.  Aju Thomas Abraham, Secretary, IEEE Kerala Section and Brajesh C Kaimal, Educational Activities, Student Activity Board, felicitated the gathering. Haseena H, IEEE Student Branch Counsellor delivered the vote of thanks.

The highlight of the day was the next session at 10.30 Hrs - a Video conferencing with eminent personalities like:  N T Nair, Former Chairman, IEEE Kerala Section, D S Rane, Former Director, Computer & Information Group, VSSC, S Gopakumar, Head, Computer Division, VSSC, R A D Pillai, Consultant, VSSC and Unnikrishnan A.K. This was more or less a technology demonstration to the various delegates who could interact with these senior people in Thiruvananthapuram from Kuttippuram through EDUSAT connectivity, in real time with audio and video information at both ends. The interaction revolved around IEEE, resources for students and answering queries ranging from ‘Chandrayaan’ to further deepening of Edusat connectivity. The valuable services of N T Nair, Manoj and Rajkumar were acknowledged at the end of the 90 minutes videoconferencing session.

             After the lunch the IEEE Student officials from the various colleges had an “Open discussion with Section Executives”. Amarnath Raja and Aju Thomas Abraham charted out the various steps to help in bringing more activities in the student branches and to evolve better interaction with the industry. Jaison Abey Sabu, IEEE Student Representative 2006 presided over the meeting. The next session was taken by Jyothy Ramaswamy, Secretary, Women in Engineering (WIE). It focused on giving proper orientation for the potential professionals - the opportunities, the threats etc.

 Parallel sessions were arranged for the IEEE Student members, which included prelims of Technical Quiz and Best Engineer Contest. Paper presentation contest and project exhibitions were conducted in different venues. Swati A M, Suja S and Sumin Mohanan of MES CE, Kuttippuram bagged the first prize for Project Exhibition. Next session started at 14.00 Hrs was TCS Technical Paper presentation in which eight papers were presented.  Francis Jacob ITS, Dy. Manager BSNL and E. Chandrashekharan, (Former HOD, GEC Thrissur) were the judges. Ajay Kumar Kaushik and Kavin Kumar of Amrita Institute of technology and Science, Coimbatore won the first prize for the paper on “Modeling and analysis of Magneto-Rheological (MR) damper.” Eminent Quiz Master K P Sunil conducted Infosys Technical Quiz in the Main Auditorium from 16.30 Hrs. It was followed by Cultural extravaganza towards the night up to 20.00 Hrs.

02-04-’06 (DAY 3)

The day began with an exhilarating talk on “Emerging Challenges for Engineering graduates" by Sreeram Kumar, Professor of Electrical Engineering, NIT Calicut. The talk focused on various scenarios, challenges in front of the upcoming professionals and so on. This was followed by a panel discussion on the topic "Engineers in Society" with Jayaprakash Ragaviah (IIM -K), Harimohan Pillai, Alex P. George and Amarnath Raja, as the panelists. C. K. Raju was the Moderator. It received an unprecedented response and participation from delegates and students. The panelists made the session interesting by their PowerPoint presentations, short clips etc. There was also an interaction with the students, which brought several issues and problems into limelight.

      The afternoon session resumed, after the traditional 'Kerala Sadhya lunch', for the finals of the Best Engineer Contest. Judges Biju (Lecturer, Dept of MBA, MES CE), Sasikumar (Lecturer, Dept of EEE, MES CE) and Saju were at their very best in trying the four finalists under rigorous stress, strain and pace of time. The audience had an equally interesting time as the participants. K P Mohandas, Dean, PG Studies and Research, NIT Calicut handled the last session. It was a technical talk on "Intelligent Computing" describing in some detail the concepts of artificial intelligence, neural networks, fuzzy logic and so on.

The curtains came down with the valedictory ceremony where the prizes were distributed to the winners by the Chief Guest, K P Mohandas. P V Abdul Hameed, Vice Principal Presided and K P Mohammed, Principal Spoke on the occasion. Jarvie John Samuel, IEEE Student Branch Chair proposed vote of thanks and the whole function came to an end at 16.30 Hrs.

 

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Students Activities

IEEE Student Branch Activities
Jyothi Engineering College, Trissur
 A meeting of IEEE student members Jyothi Engineering College, Jyothis Hill, Trissur, was conducted at 13.20 Hrs on 19-04-2006 in the College premises and elected the following office bearers for the year 2006.


Branch Counselor:    SUNDARESAN.S
Chairman:                 PRASOON P.T
Vice chairman:          NEETHY MOHAN
Secretary:                 SREEKALA .E
Joint secretary:         JOHN PAUL IYYANAM
Treasurer:                NATESH MITHUN. U
Link representative:  JOBIN JOHN

College of Engineering, Chengannur

On May 2nd 2006, we got mail from Christine Eldridge, Administrative Assistant, IEEE Student Services that our Branch Counselor, Nisha Kuruvilla, has been selected for 2006 Outstanding Counselor Award. The award includes $500 and award certificate for the outstanding counselor and a $200 award for the Branch for submitting a winning nomination. Kuruvilla is one of 7 award recipients this year worldwide. Our student branch is planning a special function to present her the award some time in mid August since we are having university exams during June and July.
On May 11th 2006, we conducted programs as a part of National Technology Day. The event includes a seminar on Fibre Communication Technology, Showcase of Technical Charts and a Technical Quiz. Around 50 students participated in it.
The 5 IEEE members our branch is participating in the All India Students Congress 2006 in Delhi this month last.                                                   Reported by: Muhammed Fazil T,

GeneralSecretary

 

AWARD

Outstanding Counselor award     
Chengannur Engineering College Branch Counselor, Nisha Kuruvilla, has been selected for Outstanding Counselor Award 2006 . Apart from a certificate, this award includes $500 for the outstanding counselor and a $200 award for the Branch for submitting a winning nomination.  Nisha Kuruvilla is one of the seven award recipients of this year.

Let us congratulate Nisha Kuruvilla for her achievement. Moreover, Chengannur Engineering College is doing an excellent work and let us congratulate the Branch and all those who involved behind the enthusiasm in running the IEEE Student Branch.
 Hope, to reap more awards in the current year!

Outstanding Volunteer Award
KG Satheesh Kumar of Kerala Section has been selected for "The 2005 R10 Outstanding Volunteer Award" as a recognition of his excellent work as an IEEE volunteer. He has received the award from Region -10 Director, Seiichi Takeuchi in the R10 Meeting at Chiang Mmai, Thailand.

R10  Outstanding Student Branch Award
R10 Outstanding Student Branch Award of IEEE for 2005 goes to Student Branch of Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi. Jamia Milia will also vie for the Inter-Regional Outstanding SB Award.
                                          

Congratulations!

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IEEE KERALA SECTION REPORT FOR YEAR 2005

PART A - SECTION SUMMARY

A.1 Executive Summary

The activities of IEEE Kerala Section, for the year 2005, commenced with the Annual General Meeting held on 17th January 2005 at Hotel Mascot Thiruvananthapuram, coinciding with the visit of the IEEE President Cleon Andersen. During the meeting, the following members were unanimously elected as office bearers for the year 2004.

Chairman

 E. E. Rajakumar

Vice-Chairman

 Unnikrishnan A. K.

Secretary

Aju Thomas Abraham

Treasurer

 Unni Sankar

A.2 Section Committee Officers
The Executive Committee, as nominated by the office bearers for the year 2005 is:

 

Chairman / Charge

Secretary

 

 

 

Computer Society Chapter

Satish Babu

Prageeth

Communication Society Chapter

Prem Kumar

Kurian Thomas

IE&IA Societies Joint Chapter

K. P. Mohandas

R. Sreeram Kumar

Power Engineering Society Chapter

Simon P. Varghese

Sunil Nair

GOLD            

Jacob Iype

Shahid Iqbal

Women in Engineering

Fathima K. A.

Jyothi Ramasamy

Student Activities

Prem Kumar

 

Awards           

Sasi P. M.

 

Membership development        

Chandramohanan Nair

 

Professional Activities

R. Narayanan

 

IEEE and Society/ Governmental interaction

G. Vijayaraghavan

 

Inter Society Relations

Koruthu Varghese

 

Conference Activities

Amarnath Raja

 

Educational Activities   

Brajesh C. Kaimal

 

Newsletter Editor

K. Gopalan Nair

 

Web Support  

T. S. Ajaygosh

 

Student Representative

Prijoe Philips

 

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A3. Financial Report

 

 

 

 

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE STATEMENT

01-01-2005 through 31-12-2005

 

 

 

 

                    Category Description

Amount (Rs)

 

 

 

 

INCOME

 

 

 

Income from HQ

 

 

 

Rebate

433305.05

 

 

WIE

39125.00

 

 

PES

15600.00

 

 

WIE-STAR

32950.00

 

Interest

13571.00

 

Program Revenue

 

 

 

 

BIOS 2005

323127.50

 

 

ISEC 2005

321208.00

 

 

PES

15600.00

 

Payments Received

 

 

 

 

Accounts Receivable

0.00

 

 

Advance Receivable

75000.00

 

 

 TOTAL INCOME

1269486.55

 

 

 

 

EXPENSES

 

 

 

 

Program Expenses

 

 

 

 

WIE-STAR

27500.00

 

 

BIOS 2005

255400.00

 

 

ISEC 2005

337026.50

 

 

Meetings and Social Events

73651.80

 

 

Publications

61414.00

 

 

Student activities

80024.00

 

 

Professional Activities

62194.50

 

Management and General Expenses

 

 

 

 

General Administration

34871.75

 

 

Postage & Supplies Total

2818.00

 

 

Occupancy

17341.00

 

 

Salaries

35650.00

 

 

Outstation Travel

35915.00

 

 

Local Conveyance

6893.00

 

Support to Sections and Chapters

 

 

 

Communication Society

11407.30

 

 

Computer Society

18184.50

 

 

GOLD

13395.00

 

 

Membership Development

2593.00

 

 

PES

36672.00

 

 

WIE

22305.21

 

Support to Regional Activities

 

 

 

IEEE India Council

28266.00

 

Payments Made

 

 

 

Accounts Payable

19088.00

 

 

Advance Receivable

162000.00

 

 

 TOTAL EXPENSES

1317110.56

 

 

EXPENSE OVER INCOME

47624.01

..

BALANCE SHEET AS ON 31-12-2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rs

Rs

ASSETS

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and bank accounts

 

 

 

 

Indian Overseas Bank

412374.46

486547.12

 

 

State Bank of India

51784.30

49158.00

 

 

Ing Vysya Bank

78316.62

74058.91

 

 

Treasurer cash account

4730.55

6392.29

 

Total Cash and Bank Accounts

547205.93

616156.32

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other assets

 

 

 

 

Accounts receivable

233046.00

167562.51

TOTAL ASSETS

 

 

780251.93

783718.83

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIABILITIES

 

 

 

 

 

Accounts payable

 

19088.00

18736.40

 

 

 

 

 

NET ASSET

 

 

761163.93

764982.43

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A4. Highlights of Activities

  1. 2004 Distinguished Large Section Award
  2. 2005 Chairman’s Award for Innovation in Student Projects for all students in the Kerala Section.
  3. Organized technical seminars/ presentations under the auspices of the Section, Computer Society, PES, IA&IE, GOLD and WIE.
  4. Organized 42 weekly technical talks by eminent professionals as weekly events jointly with sister professional bodies (IE, CSI, IETE, AeSI).
  5. Strengthened the activities of IEEE all over Kerala.
  6. More IEEE student branches active under the section
  7. Brought out four highly rated quarterly News Letters
  8. Two successful Seminars on Bioinformatics (BIOS 2005) and Information Security (ISec 2005)
  9. Joint activity along with the Project Management Institute (PMI) Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Chapter

PART B  - ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES

B.1 Membership Development Programs
The section embarked on a membership campaign during the year. Section officers attended activities of Student Branches to promote IEEE Membership.

The Membership position as on January 2006 is as follows:

Member Category

Membership as on Jan 2006

Membership as on Jan 2005

Membership as on Jan 2004

A (Associate Members)

147

223

56

AF (Affiliates Members)

8

9

4

LM (Life Members)

1

1

1

LS (Senior Life Members)

3

3

3

M (Members)

584

602

338

S (Students)

2307

2065

706

SM (Senior Members)

40

37

28

TOTAL

3090

2940

1136

B.2 Professional and Continuing Education Activities

Conferences

IEEE Kerala section organised various seminars during 2005. The major seminars were:

Two successful Seminars on Bioinformatics (BIOS 2005) and Information Security (ISec 2005)

Trends 2005 – Recent trends in computing: Event organised in Thrissur.

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Distinguished Lecture

Power Engineering Society chapter (PES) organized a tutorial on “Recent Developments in FACTS Technology” at Thiruvananthapuram on 17th of October and at Cochin on 19th October. Kalyan K Sen Senior member IEEE and distinguished lecturer of PES was the faculty. The tutorial covered the various types of Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) controllers and their usefulness in power system applications. Various modeling techniques in FACTS controllers were also briefly discussed. Altogether 45 delegates from industry, R&D organizations, utilities and academic institutions attended the tutorial at Thiruvananthapuram and Cochin.

Sen conceived some of the basic concepts in FACTS technology. He has many publications in the area of FACTS and power electronics and also have seven patents in FACTS technology. He is an editor of IEEE transactions on Power Delivery .He made presentations in many countries as distinguished lecturer from the Power Engineering Society.

Technical events

The chapters of IEEE Kerala section organised various technical seminars, workshops and talks which is detailed separately.

IEEE Kerala section, in association with other Professional bodies at Thiruvananthapuram, viz., Institution of Engineers India - Kerala State Centre, Computer Society of India - Thiruvananthapuram Chapter, Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers – Thiruvananthapuram Centre and Aeronautical Society of India conducted 42 Technical talks on various topics of current interest. The list of the talks were

Sl No

Date

Topic

Speaker

1

05/01/2005

High Performance Microcilica Concrete

Kshemendra Nath PAS

2

12/01/2005

Electricity Sector-Emerging Technical Trends

N. T. Nair

3

19/01/2005

Tales From CPWD

S. S. Kaimal

4

02/02/2005

Celibacy in Architecture

G. Viswanathan

5

09/02/2005

Air Craft Accident Investigation

N. Jayachandran

6

02/03/2005

Shifting Paradigm In Water Resources Management

H. Raman

7

09/03/2005

Arbitration-A Business Process Perspective

N. Hariharan

8

16/03/2005

DeepWater International Container Transshipment Terminal Project at Vizhinjam Near Thiruvananthapuram

Jayakumar

9

23/03/2005

What To Eat

V.S.S.Nair

10

30/03/2005

Ejection Seats-The Fighter Pilots Life Saver

N. Jayachandran

11

06/04/2005

Geographical Information System (GIS) & Remote Sensing

Sreekamal. K

12

20/04/2005

Automotive Electronics - A New Business Avenue

N.T.Nair

13

27/04/2005

Emerging Technologies for Next Three Decades

Abdul Majeed

14

04/05/2005

Coconut Tree Climbing Machine

N. Rajkumar

15

18/05/2005

Impact of Vasthu Vidya in Town Planning

N.B.Shadanan Nair

16

25/05/2005

Life - A Liability

P.Vijayachandran

17

01/06/2005

For A Better Bureaucracy

S.S. Kaimal

18

08/06/2005

Information Engineering

C.G.Sukumaran Nair

19

15/06/2005

Information Technology

Neha Saran

20

29/06/2005

Opportunities in USA

K.Ajith Kumar

21

06/07/2005

Ageing World

V.S.S.Nair

22

13/07/2005

1- Digital Preservation2- Disruptive Technology

N.T.Nair

23

20/07/2005

1- Micro Mouse2- Modern Substation Equipments

1- Manu Chandran & S.Aswin
2- Sivapriya MB

24

27/07/2005

1- Probe Based Storage Arrays for High End Applications2- Segmented Rail Phased Induction Motor

1- Manu Avinash G2- Jince Joy & Abhilash

25

03/08/2005

Granite Tiles

B.Suresh Kumar

26

10/08/2005

A Look at the World's Largest Hydro Power Project - The Three Gorges in China

V.K.Damodaran

27

17/08/2005

Computer Related Health Problems - An Overview on Causes and Prevention

S.Mahesh Kumar, MS, D.Ortho

28

24/08/2005

Strategic Planning

T.R.Gopalakrishnan Nair

29

31/08/2005

Will This Bull Face In The Stock Market Continue?

Rajendran V

30

07/09/2005

Identity Management and Data Integration

Anil G.S.

31

28/09/2005

Computer Viruses and Their Prevention

K.S.Sujith

32

05/10/2005

Management Concepts in Ancient India - Specific Reference to Kalidasa's Reghuvamsam

N.S.Madhavan

33

19/10/2005

1- Attention Economy2- Semiconductor Economy

N.T.Nair

34

26/10/2005

Media Streaming Based on Multiple Senders

Umapriyadarsini PS

35

02/11/2005

The Energy Conservation Act 2001, No.52o of 2001

R.Harikumar

36

09/11/2005

Earth's Satellite Orbits and Its Significance

L.Sowmia Narayanan

37

16/11/2005

Mind and Heart

V.S.S.Nair

38

30/11/2005

Power From Sea Waves - The Indian Experiments

K.K.Vasu

39

07/12/2005

Challenging Aviation Career Opportunities

N.Jayachandran

40

14/12/2005

Performance Evaluation Matrix

K.N.Ramachandran

41

21/12/2005

Internet and Safegauarding Children

K.Kesavasamy

42

28/12/2005

Lightning Protection in Buildings

S.Balachandran

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B.3 Students Activities

In 2005, Kerala had two distinctions,

  1. Kerala was at 8th position worldwide in number of Student Branches in July 2005 with 22 Student Branches approved.  Now Kerala would be in first 5 with 30 Student Branches approved.
  2. Kerala was at 7th position worldwide in number of Student Members in July 2005 with 1037 Student members. Now Kerala would be in first 5 with over 2000 Student Members.

A Student Activities Board was constituted to assist the Student Activities Chair (SAC) with the following members:

• SAC – Chairman
• Student Activity Secretary – Secretary
• Membership Development Chair – Member
• Educational Activities Chair - Member   

Other activities included:

• The All Kerala Student Congress (AKSC 05) Conducted at FISAT, Angamaly.
• The First Ever meeting of Student Branch Counselors conducted at Cochin

 SPAC Conducted at following Student Branches:

• CUSAT
• SNGCE
• CEC

IEEE has co-hosted the following programs:

• EXCEL 2005 – Model Engineering. College, Ernakulam
• Resonance 05 – Govt. Engineering College, Trichur
• Summit – College of Engineering., Chengannur
• Sanchar Odyssey- CUSAT

 Paper presentation contests where conducted at the following Student
  Branches:

  1. St. Joseph College of Engineering, Palai – EXCOGITATUS05
  2. Amrita Institute of Technology, Vallikkavu
  3. AWH Engineering. College, Calicut
  4. Mar Baselious College of Engineering. Thiruvananthapuram

2005 has seen emergence of 9 more new student branches

  1. TKM Institute of Technology, Cheerankavu, Kollam
  2. Government College of Engineering, Sreekrishnapuram, Palakkad
  3. Government College of Engineering, BartonHill, Thiruvananthapuram
  4. AWH College of Engineering, Kuttikatoor, Calicut
  5. Viswajyothi College of Engineering, Vazhakulam, Moovattupuzha
  6. Mar Baselious College of Engineering, Nalanchira, Thiruvananthapuram
  7. Lourde Matha College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram
  8. Adishankara College of Engineering, Kalady, Ernakulam
  9. Vidya Academy of Science & Technology, Kurumal, Trichur

2005 has also seen the emergence of LINK (Local Integrated Network of IEEE students of Kerala) – a coordinating body of student branch office bearers – founded by Prijoe Philip, Larry K Wilson Award Winner  and Student Representative of Kerala Section with a

  1. Mission to act as a conjunctive body ensemble the student branches of  Kerala and spread the value of IEEE through out its geographical span and
  2. Vision to serve in uniting different student branches and also helping to have sustenance for them.
  3. A body with a written bylaw
  4. Presently 20 out of 30 student branches are members

Mentors of Kerala – An initiative mooted by Rajakumar, Chairman,
IEEE Kerala Section - is being launched through LINK.

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  1. A professional member to mentor some student branches
  2. Help in retaining the recently graduated members
  3. Takes up the issues of Student Branches with Section
  4. Arrange resources from professional community for helping students in conducting various programs.

LINK has conducted a two day camp at Calicut in which 20 student branches have participated. The camp helped most of the student branch office bearers to get clarity on operational aspects.

B.4 Publications

Newsletter

Four quarterly issues of the IEEE Kerala Newsletter have been published in the year. The newsletter carried details of activities of the section, chapters and student branches, apart from technical papers. Notifications about the forthcoming events were also published.

B.5 Chapter Activities

The Section has three Society Chapters and two affinity groups .

Chapters

  1. Computer Society
  2. Power Engineering Society
  3. IA&IE combined chapter

Affinity Groups

B.5.1 Computer Society chapter
Several Talks were arranged by the Computer Society as per the following table:

Sl. no

Topic

Date

Speakers

1

Analysis and Design of Algorithms - I

4/2/2005

C. Pandurangan

2

Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Teleportation

4/15/2005

Rajendra K. Bera

3

Smarter surfing Better use of Internet time

7/4/2005

Sreenath Sreenivasan

4

Analysis and Design of Algorithms - II

8/26/2005

C. Pandurangan

5

Internet Application Security

11/29/2005

Satish Babu

6

XML Databases

12/10/2005

Sreenivasa Kumar

7

Next Generation Network (NGN) Services and Ubiquitous Computing

12/17/2005

Satish Babu

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B.5.2 Power Engineering Society (PES) chapter

The Power Engineering Society activities are highlighted below:

Sl No

Date

Topic

Speaker

No. of Participants

1

12/01/2005

Electricity Sector-Emerging Technical Trends

N.T.Nair

31

2

10/08/2005

A Look at the World's Largest Hydro Power Project - The Three Gorges in China

V.K.Damodaran

50

3

17/10/2005

Recent Developments in FACTS Technology

 Kalyan K Sen

45

4

02/11/2005

The Energy Conservation Act 2001, No.52o of 2001

R.Harikumar

20

(Reported by: Kuriakose Rajan, Secretary, IEEE SB)

B.5.3 Industrial Applications & Industrial Electronics Society (IA and IE) Combined chapter

The Industrial Applications & Industrial Electronics Society (IA and IE) Combined chapter organized a series of lectures as per the following list:

1. Special Address on Wavelets

 Resource Person   :   G.Abhilash (MIEEE)
                                 Assistant Professor, Dept.  of Electronics Engineering
                                 NIT Calicut

Venue             :         EED PG Seminar Hall, NIT Calicut
                         
Time and Date     :     4.30 p.m on 01-March-2005

No. of Participants  :  75

2.Talk on Cardiac Chaos

 Resource Person   :  Thajudin Ahamed V.I.
                                Ph.D. Scholar, Dept. of Electrical Engineering
                                National Institute of Technology Calicut

Venue                    :  EED PG Seminar Hall, NIT Calicut
Time and Date        :  4.00 p.m.  on 25 October 2005
No. of  Participants : 60

3.Talk on Genetic Algorithms and Applications

 Resource Person   :   R. Sreeram Kumar (SMIEEE)
                                 Professor of Electrical Engineering
                                 NIT Calicut

Venue                    :  Citadel Hall, Renaissance Hotel, Calicut
Time and Date        :  6.00 p.m on 27-October 2005
No. of  Participants : 65

4.Special Address on Un-manned Aerial Vehicles

 Resource Person   :  Jayaprakasan Ambali
                              Principal Propulsion Engineer
                               Manufacturing, Certification and New Technologies Office
                               Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia

Venue                    :  MED Seminar Hall, National Institute of Technology Calicut
Time and Date        :  3.00 p.m.  on 16 November 2005
No. of  Participants : 25

B.5.4 GOLD

Sl no

Topic

Date

Speakers

Venue

1

Introduction to IEEE GOLD

3/4/2005

Jacob Iype

US Technology

2

Resume Building Workshop

3/12/2005

Jacob Iype

FISAT

3

Group Discussions

3/19/2005

Jacob Iype

TKM IT

4

Day Management Workshop

4/9/2005

Jacob Iype

CoE Chengannur

5

Preparing For Campus Placements - A Workshop

4/23/2005

Jacob Iype

Rajagiri College of Social Sciences

6

Team Building

10/1/2005

Jacob Iype

SNGCoE

7

IT and Business Quiz

10/15/2005

Pravin Prakash and Shahid      Iqbal

TKM IT

8

Campus Placement Simulation Programme

12/2/2005

Jacob Iype

JECC

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B.5.4 WIE

WIE Kerala has started the implementation of the student's outreach program of IEEE last year and took the implementation to the next level. (The plan is to implement Science, Technology and Research (STAR) and to introduce Engineering to Girl Students in different Girls’ schools in Kerala. WIE, Kerala plans to design the curriculum, provide the training to a pool of faculty members identified (mostly Women Engineers / Diploma Holders / Science Graduates) and have a pool of resources ready. These girls / women engineers will be benefited by the job opportunity provided to them. WIE plans to manage the scheme on its own for 3 years.

Conducted administrative meetings to frame the 2005 activities
– Main focus School Outreach Programs

School Outreach Program – Sponsored by IEEE Foundation
– Interactions with various Government Schools
Conducted a survey

– Had meeting with Teaching Trainees (B.Ed Students)

WIE also had other activities like:

Conducted Technical Talks for MCA students of CDAC in March 2005
– 2 sessions, Identity Theft & RFID

Inaugurated the WIE Student Group of FISAT
– Sponsored talk on Leadership Development in FISAT

Conducted a Technical session on iSecurity in IIITMK in September

Held a WIE Reception at AKSC in FISAT along with FISAT WIE Group

Interactions with Schools on Science Club activities

Provided a sponsorship for the 6 day long Balasabha Sangamam organised by Kudumbasree in Punalur

V K Damodaran addressed the 600 + school students in Balasabha Sangamam
PART C - OTHERS

C.1. Relationship with National Societies

IEEE Kerala Section is continuing its unique relationship with other sister professional Societies, namely, Institution of Engineers India (Kerala State Centre), Computer Society of India (Thiruvananthapuram and Cochin Chapters), Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (Thiruvananthapuram Centre) and Aeronautical Society of India (Thiruvananthapuram and Cochin Chapters). The section actively participated in organising several joint activities with the sister societies, in the year.

C.2 Awards and recognitions

  1. The Section received the coveted 2004 Distinguished Large Section Award during this year
  2. A Student Member of the IEEE Kerala Section Prijoe Philips won the Transnational 2005 RAB Larry K. Wilson Regional Student Activities Award.

CONCLUSION

I conclude this annual report for year 2005 expressing my sincere thanks to my colleagues in the Executive Committee, all members of the IEEE fraternity and the sister Professional bodies; namely IE(I), CSI, IETE and ASI for their co-operation, active support, encouragement and valuable criticism.

Thiruvananthapuram                                                                         Aju Thomas Abraham
19 January 2006                                                                            Secretary

 

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Editorial

Unless one becomes a hermit, there will always be relationships present in his or her life. This is applicable to individuals as well as organizations. As an organization, IEEE has relationship with our members, well wishers and similar other organizations. We have inter-society relationships in agreeable areas especially organizing co-sponsored programs with our sister concerns. Beyond these, we too make relationship with the common people in the society by percolating our activities in the down level for their benefit.
As a matter of interest, let us ponder upon the term “relationship” a little. The term is a noun that refers to `connection`; what there is between things, persons and ideas. The profound and perplexing mysteries behind the meaning of this word will eventually help us to unravel its effectiveness in our practical life. One way to look into relationship is to understand it in its purest form - as exchange or interaction between entities, be it people or organizations. Further, it can be broken into two; the specific content of the exchange and the process by which the exchange happens.
Examining how the relationship plays its role in the information exchange and how effectively it does in our day to day activities, is interesting and fascinating. For this, the components of relationships are to be taken into account. By learning to measure these components, we could experience the state of the relationship. This will assist us to measure the use of our consciousness skills. In this context, how the content for which the relationship formed and exchanged is prominent to note.
Consider the audiences that typically amass in a technical talk arranged by IEEE in Wednesdays. A few of them may attend the talk and leave the spot just after the function is over. It is important to note their nature and behaviour.  They may smile or even be very serious and will leave the hall after the talk. The brief relationship formed by them completes by the exchange of information through the talk by the expert in that day. Here the information is the content for which the brief relationship is formed.  Also this is formed only to deal with that specific content and when the content is complete, the relationship is suspended. This is similar to the inquiry about time by a stranger or the engagement with the staff in a super market while we purchase some items.
Conversely, if we talk with an IEEE colleague, probably the topic will be about the specifics of the organisation or the forthcoming programmes to promote our activities. If we repeat this type of exchange, we are creating an on-going relationship that is concerned with content. The content may expand to include other types of information beyond the organization, some of which may be personal, like family details, workplace, other interests or even beliefs about politics, religion or management styles. But here the relationship remains more content-oriented. As relationships grow, they include a broader array of information. There are many transition points in this relationship which form the content of relations such as likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams, problems and changes and so on.
Similarly one can examine another type of relationship, the romantic relationship. How it begins through conscious or unconscious motivations?  Certainly, we are familiar with such incidents from our surroundings. Just try to compare those relationships. Usually it begins with an exchange about some specific content. Then it grows as it includes more content and changes its form. The content includes by defining characteristics like the powerful emotions of love and commitment. This may lead to insurmountable problems affecting the family relationships adversely. Sometimes it may solve without creating surprises in their healthy family relationships. In general, the marriage relationships are also important and interesting for our similar observance.
Evidently, all relationships are defined by how two people feel about each other. Its value as a vehicle for growth is identified by its ratio of content and process. But the process of a relationship is less concrete than content. Because it is only the way in which two people are related. Also it determines the quality of every relationship. Normally in a relationship one person’s issues will rise in reaction to their experience with another person. This forms a tension between them due to the specific content in their relationship and decides how they want to practice their values. Therefore whenever there is a problem, the process will be regarded first and then the content. If the process is reconfirmed, any content can be dealt with successfully. There will be no success in dealing with content if the process is out of order and difficulty arises in handling anything effectively.

Ultimately, a relationship is only a vehicle and its analysis is a quest that eventually helps us to know more about the longings and desires of humankind. It is an effective vehicle not only raises our issues, but also provides a way for us to deal with them. The dynamics that someone uses to relate to others is a quality. Also, the only real value of any relationship is in its ability to facilitate our growth. It is amazing and will change the way as we see and feel. The quote, "Some people enter our lives and leave almost instantly, others stay and forge such an impression on our heart and soul that we are changed forever" is pertinent to note and applicable for organizations too. As members of an organization we could do more to enhance our relationships in healthy ways with professional touch if we could look more broadly.

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Hybrid Hard Disk Drives – An Emerging Technovasion

Compiled by: N T Nair, Editor, IEEE India Info newsletter andChief Editor, Executive Knowledge Lines monthly

   Think of the time when the IBM PCXT came to the market with a 10 MB    hard disk drive (HDD) for the first time which was a sensation in desktop PC scene. The journey of disk drives continues unabated, expanding in capacity, with smaller form factor, enhanced performance etc.  Today, the disk storage market is growing exponentially, not only in its traditional forte of servers, PCs, laptops and such other computing oriented products, but also in entertainment electronics and gaming segments. In the computer domain, 3.5” HDDs are ruling the roost with storage capacities of 80 GB and above, spinning at higher speed (7200 RPM), and with Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA). Entertainment and gaming industries are also now emerging as large scale users of HDDs with form factors like 1”, 1.8”, 2.5” etc. In the latter domain, the demand is for smaller, thinner and higher capacity drives that use less power, for the battery operated environment and have high shock tolerance. As per a recent report from the University of California at Berkeley, the worldwide data stored on magnetic media is around 99.5 hexabytes in 2005, as compared to 7 exabytes in 2000. An exabyte is 1.074 billion gigabytes.
              While the conventional HDD is making steady progress in its proliferation, capabilities etc, some technological innovations are taking place at HDD front - in the form as Hybrid HDDs.
              The hybrid hard disk combines a magnetic hard disc drive and flash memory on a single device. Flash memory is a semiconductor storage medium    widely used in cameras, MP3 players, USB drives and mobile phones.  The hard disks have an advantage over flash in terms of storage capacity - the storage density of magnetic drives continues to grow as the price per gigabyte falls. In the hybrid HDD, manufacturers combine the robustness, low-power consumption and speed of flash media with the high storage density and low cost of magnetic drives.
          It is a joint effort of Microsoft and Samsung. Microsoft’s hybrid hard disk design features a non-volatile cache added to the HDD to store frequently-used sectors for fast boot and resume times. The hybrid drive is designed to work with the upcoming Windows Vista OS. Its architecture incorporates a small OneNAND device from Samsung. The ultra-high-density benefits of magnetic storage technology are preserved, while the ultra-low-power, ultra-high-reliability and fast read/write access of advanced NAND technology (such as OneNAND) enhances the overall value of the hybrid drive at little or no additional cost. A cache size of at least 128 MB is recommended, but drive manufacturers could conceivably incorporate caches as large as 4 GB or more to store critical system data or frequently accessed portions of the operating system.
        A hybrid drive saves power by keeping the spindle motor idle most of the time, while the operating system writes to the OneNAND write buffer. Incoming data is directly recorded on the flash chip. When the chip is about to become full, the hard drive wakes up, takes the data, records it and goes back to its sleeping mode again,  thereby saving power for its rotation.
              On a laptop, this power savings could help increase the battery life. Faster boot and resume is another advantage. Booting straight from the flash cache eliminates latency without sacrificing disk performance; flash can nearly saturate the SATA protocol’s throughput.
            Hybrid HDDs are also noted for other benefits they offer. The reduced spinning of the platters will greatly decrease the amount of heat generated as barely any parts of the hard drive will be physically moving, generating friction and consequent heat.  The other advantage is the overall reduction in noise level of computers using them, as movement of platters is minimal.
             There are three ways of integrating non-volatile memory into hybrid HDDs. The first involves an embedded flash disk, which requires a NOR interface. The second is the use of raw NAND flash with the existing HDD controller. The third is the use of a raw NAND with a NAND controller.
               Hard drive motors, along with LCD screens, are two of the largest consumers of power inside a laptop. In the hybrid, the drive rarely spins - only about 30 to 45 seconds every half hour. The goal is to get it to 30 to 45 seconds for an hour.
                The traditional hard drive takes up about 10 to 15 percent of the battery power of a notebook PC. Thus, in a notebook with a four hour battery, the hybrid drive could extend battery life by about 36 minutes.

                       Currently, Samsung is the world's largest flash memory maker but it plays a somewhat smaller role in hard disks.  OneNAND is a relatively new line of chips from Samsung that share some of the characteristics of NAND flash memory, such as   high density and   rapid recording rate, and NOR flash memory, which historically has sported a fast data retrieval rate. Samsung primarily produces NAND while Intel and Spansion produce NOR. Similarly, Intel and Spansion are concocting hybrid products.

           

Notebooks containing hybrid drives are expected to hit the market in late 2006.           

           

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Gobal News - News Around IEEE

1. IEEE Educational Activities: The IEEE Educational Activities Board is responsible for coordinating the educational activities of the IEEE. The volunteer and staff members of IEEE Educational Activities carry out this responsibility by developing educational programs to ensure (1) The technological literacy of pre-university students, (2) the continuous maintenance and improvement of engineering education programs through active participation in accreditation activities, and (3) the development of continuing education products and services that serve the professional development and lifelong learning needs of electro-technology professionals worldwide.  For more information, visit http://www.ieee.org/organizations/eab/ or email education-services@ieee.org.

2. The IEEE History Center: The IEEE History Center is a staff unit of IEEE that is located not at the IEEE Operations Center, but on the nearby New Brunswick campus of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, which cosponsors the Center’s activities.  The Center’s mission to preserve, research, and promote the legacy of IEEE technologies is overseen by the IEEE History Committee, a standing committee of the IEEE Executive Committee.  Since most of the activities in carrying out this mission are educational in nature, the Staff Director of the History Center reports to the IEEE Managing Director for Educational Activities, and Center staff work closely with EAD staff on many programs.  Those interested in more information are invited to view the Center’s website (http://www.ieee.org/history_center) or to email the Center at ieee-history@ieee.org.  

3. IEEE Teams with IBM launched TryEngineering.org in June: IEEE and IBM have collaborated to launch a new website that combines interactive activities with information on careers in engineering. TryEngineering.org is designed to educate a variety of audiences about the different engineering disciplines and the impact engineers have on society. Targeted toward teachers, school counselors, parents and students, TryEngineering.org lets site visitors explore how to prepare for an engineering career, ask designated experts engineer-related questions and play interactive games. Tools for teachers include lesson plans and engineering projects as well as a list of student competitions and science and engineering-oriented summer camps. The site will be launched on 5 June with a searchable list of accredited engineering programs in the U.S. and Canada, and will be expanded to include programs in other English-speaking countries as well as Germany and France.  For more information contact Doug Gorham, Educational Activities, at d.g.gorham@ieee.org or +1 732 562 5483 or Allison Ickowicz at a.m.ickowicz@ieee.org or +1 732 562 5496.

4. Try Expert now IEEE for free, plus earn ceus: Expert Now IEEE is a new, innovative product which features the best of IEEE's educational content delivered in one-hour long interactive online learning courses. It contains the latest information on emerging technologies and seminal works presented at the best of IEEE's conference tutorials, short courses and workshops. The courses are modularized to enhance rapid, self-paced learning and are developed by recognized experts in their fields as well as peer reviewed to ensure quality. Delivered right to your desktop, the highly-engaging instructional design includes assessments, audio and video files, diagrams, animations, and automatic place marking. Expert Now IEEE helps you:    
            * Stay current in your field as well as emerging technologies
            * Maintain your license or certifications by earning Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
            * Learn from recognized experts without having to travel
The free trial is open to anyone who has an IEEE web account and is available from now through September. The three courses offered during the free trial period are:
            * "Real-Time Computer Systems"
            * "Transition to Management"
            * "Introduction to Wireless Ad-hoc Networks"
Exclusive for IEEE Members only, individual courses found in the Expert Now IEEE collection will be made available for purchase later this year via Xplore. To experience what Expert Now IEEE can do for you visit www.ieee.org/go/ExpertNowIEEETrial. For additional information on Expert Now IEEE, contact Marilyn Catis – telephone +1 732 562 5323; “MailTo: mg.catis@ieee.org”.

5. IEEE Virtual Museum chosen as Educational aid for San Antonio Students: The San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) has chosen excerpts from exhibits in the IEEE Virtual Museum to supplement a tutoring program serving over 750 students who are children of migrant workers. The exhibits will be burned onto CDs, which teachers can bring to the student’s home for playback on a laptop computer. SAISD was particularly enthusiastic about the Virtual Museum material, stating, “The articles are so relevant and so dynamic,” Migrant Department Coordinator Celia Boriack wrote to the History Center. “This is the kind of reading material that can open a discussion between the student and the tutor.” Check out Virtual Museum’s review in Science magazine: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/312/5770/29d.pdf.

6. Get involved in upcoming Teacher in-service program(TISP) Training Workshops: Members interested in working with their local pre-university schools, school districts, or teachers can plan to attend one of the upcoming Teacher In-Service Training workshops scheduled for later this year. Specifically, TISP training workshops are set to take place on 16-17 June in Indianapolis, IN; 4-5 August in South Africa and 9-10 September in Malaysia. Encouraging pre-university students to pursue technical careers, including engineering as well as increasing the general level of technological literacy of pre-university educators and student are some of the desired outcomes of the TISP training workshops. During an actual Teacher In-Service Presentation, volunteers provide teachers with activity materials and then help the teachers as they work their way through the activity. Teachers then return to their schools and lead the same activity in their classrooms. If you are interested in any of the upcoming TISP sessions, please contact Doug Gorham, d.g.gorham@ieee.org, +1 732 562 5483, or Allison Ickowicz, a.m.ickowicz@ieee.org, +1 732 562 5496.

7. Miestones: Sections are urged to get involved in local history, particularly through the Milestones Program which is designed to help Sections promote the importance of the engineer and engineering in their local communities (see http://www.ieee.org/organizations/history_center/milestones _program.html).  This year is on pace to be another record-breaking one for the program. One dedication was already held by the Boston Section (Region 1) for Bell’s first telephone transmission (the famous call to his assistant Watson), and an additional one has been planned by the UKRI Section (Region 8) for the pioneering electrical science of Nicholas Callan in Ireland. Three additional nominations have been approved by the IEEE ExCom, and numerous other exciting nominations and proposals are in the pipeline.  In addition, at the request of the IEEE History Committee, the IEEE ExCom approved a special citation for the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade on behalf of the IEEE Serbia and Montenegro Section (Region 8). This year marks the 150th anniversary of Tesla’s birth.

8. Access list of Society Continuing Education Programs Onine A list of IEEE Technical Society and Council continuing education programs can be accessed via the Educational Activities’ Society Education Page at http://www.ieee.org/ web/education /societyeducation/societyed.html. Site visitors can quickly browse the catalog of courses and tutorials by subject area and download online tutorials.

9. 2007 IEEE Medal and Award Nominations Due: You have until 1 July to nominate a colleague or company for an IEEE medal, corporate recognition, honorary membership, service award, or prize paper award to be presented next year. For nomination forms, visit the IEEE Awards Web site at http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3131/01224104 or contact IEEE Awards Activities, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08855-1331 USA; tel: +1 732 562 3844; fax: +1 732 981 9019; e-mail: <mailto:awards@ieee.org>

10. New GLOBECOM Proceedings: Include More Than 700 Papers The Proceedings of the IEEE GLOBECOM 2005 conference are now available through the IEEE Xplore digital library. More than 700 papers covering communications theory, advances in networking and the Internet, and many other topics are included. Visit http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3137/01224104

11. Recruit A Colleague, Earn Credit Toward IEEE Dues: Through the IEEE Member-Get-A-Member program, current members can receive a US $5 credit toward next year's dues for every new member they recruit. And anyone who joins between now and the end of August pay half-year rates for a membership that runs through the rest of 2006. For details on the IEEE Member-Get-A-Member program plus tips on recruitment, go to http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3139/01224 104  Student members can take advantage of the IEEE Student-Get-A-Student program by visiting http://bmsmail3.ieee.org: 80/u/3140/01224104

12. Return of the Mentor:  Imagine you're a young engineer working in a modern, fast-paced engineering firm and you have questions about your career. You need a mentor. Trouble is, in today's world of engineering, mentoring largely is a lost art. The good news is that the IEEE is experimenting with two initiatives to rebuild mentoring networks. Find out more at http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3196/01224104

13. Spirit Lifts Student Branch Membership: Some IEEE student branches have a knack for recruiting new members that is nothing short of amazing. Impressive student membership increases were achieved last year in Ecuador, India, and the United Arab Emirates. How was such growth achieved? The answer seems to be through enthusiasm and innovation. Read more at http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3198/01224104

14. Marketplace of Ideas: The Google Blocker - Google Inc.'s chief executive recently said the company will not lobby to change China's Internet censorship laws. In January, the company's management endured criticism because Google's China site blocked searches on such subjects as "democracy" and "Tibet," topics restricted by the Chinese government. What do you think about Google's stance? Weigh in at <mailto:institute@ieee.org>

15. Video Game Pioneer Plays: On As the creator of one of the first home video games, IEEE Life Senior Member Ralph H. Baer isn't impressed with today's games. Sure, the graphics have improved enormously since the early days, but Baer finds today's games too fast, too complex, and too bloody to be enjoyed by anybody over a certain age. He much prefers games such as those in the Magnavox Odyssey system, which he helped develop in the 1960s. Find out more at http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3199/01224104

16. Utah Is Utopia for Largest Cable Deployment in U.S: Where can you get supersonic broadband service? It's not where you think. If you live in northeastern Utah, you may be able to download a 2-hour movie in only 6 minutes. IEEE Spectrum Online brings you the latest news about the largest deployment of fiber-optic cable for high- definition technology in the United States. Tune into this exclusive podcast report on the Utopian Broadband project at http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3201/01224104

17. Try Expert Now IEEE for Free Expert: Now IEEE is a new product that offers the latest on emerging technologies from IEEE  conference tutorials, short courses, and workshops. Each program is delivered in a 1-hour online course, which qualifies for Continuing Education Units credit. For those with an IEEE Web Account, the IEEE is running a free trial of Expert Now IEEE through September. To learn more, visit http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/ 3202/01224104.  For additional information on Expert Now IEEE, contact Marilyn Catis at <mailto:mg.catis@ieee.org>

18. Magazine Considers Molecular and Cellular Imaging: Eight papers in the May issue of "IEEE Signal Processing Magazine" (Vol. 23, no. 3) address the topic of molecular and cellular bioimaging. The first five articles examine fluorescence microscopy, while the next three focus on other microscopy techniques. In their introduction, the issue's guest editors write, "We have an opportunity to make a mark in a host of important problems by automating data collection and analysis, developing new algorithms for ever-more sophisticated acquisition methods, and providing statistically sound, automated answers to biological questions." Abstracts for all articles in the issue can be found in the IEEE Xplore digital library, where subscribers also have full-text access. Visit http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3204/01224104

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19. New Standard Identifies Eco-Friendly Computers and Monitors: It's not easy buying green, especially for those purchasing desktop and laptop computers and monitors on behalf of large organizations. Generally, purchasing agents do not have the technical knowledge to sift through complicated product specs to figure out which computer or monitor has the least toxic materials. A new IEEE standard aims to simplify the process by establishing three levels of eco-friendly criteria for computers and monitors to meet. Find more at http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3301/01224104

20.Miu Miller Receives Outstanding Young Engineer Award:  IEEE Member Karen Miu Miller has received the 2005 Etta Kappa Nu Outstanding Young Electrical and Computer Engineer Award. An associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Drexel University, in Philadelphia, Miu Miller was recognized for her "outstanding contributions in electric power distribution systems and her involvement in student and professional activities." Find out more at http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3305/01224104

21. Biomedical Engineers to Meet in August: Since 1958, medically oriented physicists and engineers from every continent have gathered at the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering to discuss how engineering and physics can advance medicine and health care, and to assess clinical, scientific and technical progress in their fields. Held triennially in locations around the world, the Congress will be hosted this year in Seoul, South Korea, from August 27 to September 1. Find out more at http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3308/01224104

22. IEEE Membership as on May: IEEE membership reached 330,128 in May 2006, a decrease of 0.3 percent compared to May 2005. Specifically, higher grade memberships are down 1.7 percent, student memberships have increased 4.9 percent and society memberships have declined 3.3 percent. Complete details are available in the Membership Development Report at <http://www.ieee.org/mdprogreport>. In order to access this site, you must use your IEEE Web Account. If you do not have an IEEE Web Account, please go to <http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/web/accounts/index.html>.

23. Finalists Selected in IEEE Computer Society International Design Competition: Ten teams of university students have been chosen as finalists in the IEEE Computer Society International Design Competition. The teams, which designed and implemented computer-based solutions to real-world problems to coincide with the theme of Preserving, Protecting and Enhancing the Environment, are from China, India, Jordan, Poland, Romania and the United States. To view the full press release, visit the Computer Society website.

24. Submit Questions for 2007 IEEE President-Elect Candidates: Members with questions for the 2007 IEEE President-Elect candidates can submit them online through Thursday 1 June at corp-election@ieee.org. Select questions will be answered by candidates John Vig and Lewis M. Terman and broadcasted on the IEEE Election website at www.ieee.org/elections during the voting period that runs from 1 September to 1 November. Election ballots will be mailed to all eligible voting members by 1 September. For more information about the annual election, visit www.ieee.org/elections , or contact IEEE Annual Election at corp-election@ieee.org.

25. IEEE Spectrum to Receive National Magazine Awards: Two IEEE Spectrum articles will be recognized with SNAP EXCEL awards, presented annually by the Society of National Association Publishers. Who Killed the Virtual Case File, by Harry Goldstein, (September 2005), will be presented with a Gold Award in the Magazines Features Category (100K+ circulation), while China's Tech Revolution, (June 2005), is receiving a Silver Award in the Magazines Single Topic Issue Category (100K+ circulation). Awards will be presented on 14 June, in Washington, DC. The EXCEL program judges over 1,000 magazines, newsletters, scholarly journals, electronic publications and websites in the areas of editorial quality, design, general excellence, most improved and more.

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26. IEEE Completes First System Standard for Cell Phone Batteries :The IEEE Standards Association has completed a standard to make rechargeable lithium-ion and lithium-ion polymer batteries for cellular phones more reliable and robust. The new standard, IEEE Livium(TM) 1725, “Standard for Rechargeable Batteries for Cellular Telephones,” is the first to adopt a systems approach in setting uniform criteria for battery design, production and evaluation. To view the full press release, visit the IEEE Standards Association website.

27. Women in Engineering Group Celebrates Record Growth: The IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) group experienced its largest annual growth in its history in 2005, bringing the total number of WIE members to approximately 12,000, in 103 groups worldwide. For the complete story, visit The Institute online

28. Computer Society Offers Certified Software Professional Exam Worldwide: The IEEE Computer Society’s Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP) examination will be offered at hundreds of sites in over 74 countries for the first half testing window. The CSDP program offers mid-level software engineers and software developers an opportunity to set themselves apart from others in the field by earning this professional credential. The CSDP exam is designed to measure an individual's mastery of the fundamental knowledge required to perform the functions of an experienced software engineer. The CSDP exam will be offered at Prometric Testing Centers in two testing windows in 2006, 1 April – 30 June and 1 September – 30 November. The application deadline for the first testing window is 15 March. To review a list of requirements and download an application, visit www.computer.org/certification.

29. Inactive Chapter & Affinity Group Notices: Each year, after Sections, Subsections, Chapters, and Affinity Groups have submitted meeting activity reports for the prior year and rebates have been mailed, a report is run of the Chapters and Affinity Groups that have NOT met the minimum required number of meetings for the year. To remain viable and to be considered active, Chapters must hold 2 or more technical meetings each year and Affinity Groups must hold at least 2 meetings of any category. A notice regarding the inactive or under-active units is sent to their Chairs and to their administrative parent (Section or Council) officers. Summary reports of these subunits are sent to Region Directors, Region Chapter Coordinators, Division Directors, Society Presidents, Society Chapter Coordinators, and Society Executive Directors. The point of these notices and reports is not to cause embarrassment but rather, they are sent as a “heads up” that these units may be having difficulties. Perhaps they need new volunteers, more financial support, a new place to meet, or ideas for new speakers. Sometimes they may even be holding meetings and simply forgetting to report them, so all that is needed is a reminder. For rejuvenation strategies, go to www.ieee.org/rejuvenation. To report meetings, go to www.ieee.org/L31. For answers to questions about status of your Units, send an email to sec-rebate@ieee.org.

30. Who is Viewing Your Web Site?  This is something every webmaster must think about. Your Unit’s web pages are the source for local IEEE information and contacts, and may be the viewer’s first introduction to the IEEE organization. If not updated in a timely way, you can lose the opportunity for people to contact and interface with the right volunteers and, in addition, the organization can be misrepresented. Here are some important considerations: * Is your information up to date? Aside from the latest meeting and event news, be sure you have the correct and current volunteer and IEEE staff contacts listed. Information about such things as IEEE reporting requirements or funding can be presented by using links to the IEEE web source rather than re-writing the material onto new pages, which may become outdated. * Have you considered privacy issues? While it is important to have contact information, you should always check first with the individual whose email address or telephone number is being posted. In addition, IEEE member numbers should not be posted on a public site since these numbers are sometimes used for financial transactions with the IEEE. * Are you using the correct IEEE logo? Doing so helps to ensure immediate identification as belonging with the IEEE; it enhances the IEEE name and reputation of technical excellence; and it protects the IEEE name and logo from trademark infringement. (You can go to http://www.ieee.org/masterbrand to download images and read the guidelines). To be sure none of the above items are an issue, you might consider having an annual or biannual review by your Executive Committee, or assigned volunteers. Pages that cannot be properly maintained should be deleted.

31. New IEEE Member Grade, Graduate Student Member:  Are you planning your upcoming Section and Chapter programs, activities or elections? You will be happy to hear that a new IEEE member grade, Graduate Student Member (GSM), will provide you with a larger pool of potential volunteers. The IEEE Board of Directors approved the bylaw change that divided the IEEE student member grade into two categories: graduate student member and student member. The new grade allows GSMs to vote in IEEE elections and to hold office in IEEE Sections, Chapters and Affinity Groups. The SAMIEEE program will be updated to identify these members during third quarter 2006. In the meantime, to assist Section Chairs who want to appoint a graduate student to a volunteer position, we can identify individual GSMs for you. Please email officer-data@ieee.org to confirm whether the individual qualifies as a GSM. The basic qualifications are: * Baccalaureate or equivalent degree from a recognized institution in an IEEE-designated field of interest. * Must carry at least 50 percent of a full-time academic program as a registered graduate student in an IEEE-designated field. An individual can hold the student member and graduate student member grade for a total of eight years. Upon graduation or reaching the eight-year limit, whichever comes first, the graduate student will be automatically elevated to Member grade. Objectives of the grade include getting GSMs more actively involved in IEEE activities and programs, providing geographical and technical entities with new volunteers and to help reinforce benefits of membership to help retain these members after graduation. Dues and benefits remain unchanged for both grades at this time.

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