E-LETTER on Systems, Control, and Signal Processing

ISSUE No. 116, April 1, 1998


      E-LETTER on Systems, Control, and Signal Processing
                 ISSUE No. 116,  April 1, 1998

E-mail:    eletter-request@win.tue.nl

Editors:   Anton A. Stoorvogel
           Dept. of Mathematics & Computing Science
           Eindhoven University of Technology
           P.O. Box 513
           5600 MB Eindhoven
           the Netherlands
           Fax     +31 40 246 5995

           Siep Weiland
           Dept. of Electrical Engineering
           Eindhoven University of Technology
           P.O. Box 513
           5600 MB Eindhoven
           the Netherlands
           Fax     +31 40 243 4582


Contents

1.      Editorial

2.      Personals

3.      General announcements
        3.1  Deadline SIAM student paper prizes
        3.2  SIAM Prize Winners
        3.3  RaPID toolbox available
        3.4  Short course on process monitoring

4.      Positions
        4.1  PhD positions Eindhoven University of Technology
        4.2  Research assistants FernUniversity Hagen, Germany
        4.3  Postdoctoral research position Univ. of California, Irvine
        4.4  Master and PhD positions Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal
        4.5  NASA research awards
        4.6  Research fellow positions Nanyang Techn. Univ., Singapore
        4.7  Postdoctoral and PhD position, Technion Israel Inst. of Techn.
        4.8  Assistant and Associate professorships University of Chile
        4.9  Postdoctoral research fellowship Univ. of Southampton, UK
        4.10  Faculty positions Univ. of Kaiserslautern, Germany
        4.11 Full time research position, University of Gent, Belgium
        4.12 Postgraduate research fellow, Massey University, New Zealand
        4.13 Postdoctoral position in SID, Cambridge Univ., UK
        4.14 Research assistant positions, University of Glasgow, UK
        4.15 Call for fellowship applications, ERNSI
        4.16 Associate and full professor positions at CIVESTAV, Mexico


5.      Books
        *** No book announcements ***

6.      Journals
        6.1  TOC Automatica Vol. 34:2-4
        6.2  TOC Circuits, Systems and Signal Processing, Vol.17:2
        6.3  TOC IJC, Vol. 69:6
        6.4  TOC SIAM J. on Conrol and Optimization, Vol. 36:3
        6.5  TOC Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 335B:2-3
        6.6  TOC Journal of Dynamical and Control Systems, Vol.4:1
        6.7  First volume ELA available
        6.8  TOC SIAM J. on Matrix Analysis and Applications, Vol.19:2
        6.9  TOC J. of Mathematical Systems, Estimation and Control, Vol.8:2
        6.10 TOC LAA, Vol. 274:1-3

7.      Conferences
        7.1  CFP Workshop on black box techniques nonlinear modeling
        7.2  CFP IDC-99
        7.3  CFP IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium
        7.4  Colloquium Perspectives in Control in honor of Landau
        7.5  Training course hot mill control technology
        7.6  CFP 38th CDC
        7.7  CFP workshop on differntial inclusions and control
        7.8  Information 1998 ACC
        7.9  CFP Perspectives in Control in honor of Brockett
        7.10 CFP workshop on recent advances in control
        7.11 CFP 2nd Intl. workshop on Intelligent Control
        7.12 Information MTNS-1998
        7.13 Travel support for students attending 1998 ACC
        7.14 CFP Colloquium industrial automation in automotive industry



              ******************************************
              *                                        *
              *              Editorial                 *
              *                                        *
              ******************************************


Welcome to E-letter number 116 !!!

We plan to send out the E-letter monthly. The next issue of E-letter will
appear May 1. Please send contributions before this date. We encourage
contributors to provide essential information only and reserve the right
to require contributors to cut certain parts of their contribution.

We remind you of the following.

-1- Contributions have to be sent to: "eletter-request@win.tue.nl"

    It would be useful if articles are already sent in the format that we
    use, starting with a "Contributed by:..." and a title centered in the
    next line. Each line should be no more than 80 characters wide. Please
    respect the MAXIMUM LENGTH OF 6 Kb per contribution.

-2- You can subscribe to the E-letter by sending an (empty) e-mail message
    to "eletter@win.tue.nl" carrying the subject 'add' or 'subscribe'. You
    will be automatically subscribed and included in our mailing list.
    To unsubscribe from this list, send an (empty) e-mail message to
    "eletter@win.tue.nl" with the subject 'remove', 'delete' or
    'unsubscribe'.

-3- If your address changed first unsubscribe (using your old E-mail address)
    and then subscribe again (using your new E-mail address). If you can not
    use your old E-mail address any longer then send an E-mail to
    "eletter-request@win.tue.nl" and your old address will be removed
    manually. In case of any problems please send an E-mail to
    "eletter-request@win.tue.nl" and we will try to resolve the problem.

-4- Further information about the E-letter can be obtained by sending an
    (empty) e-mail message to "eletter@win.tue.nl" carrying the subject
    'info' or via the finger command: "finger eletter@wsbs08.win.tue.nl"

-5- If you are using an editor to read this mailing and if at any point you
    wish to skip to the next article, you can accomplish this by searching
    for the string: *.**


              ******************************************
              *                                        *
              *              Personals                 *
              *                                        *
              ******************************************

*** No contributions for this section ***


              ******************************************
              *                                        *
              *        General announcements           *
              *                                        *
              ******************************************

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: A. Bogardo

     DEADLINE FAST APPROACHING
     =========================



                       SIAM Student Paper Prizes


     The annual SIAM Student Paper Prizes will be awarded during the
     1998 SIAM Annual Meeting, July 13-17, at the University of
     Toronto.

     If you are a student or know of a student who would like to take
     part in the competition, here are the details:

     The authors of the three best papers in applied and computational
     mathematics written by students and submitted to SIAM will
     present their papers at the meeting and will receive a $750 cash
     prize as well as gratis registration for the meeting.  The
     winners will be awarded calligraphed certificates at a special
     prize ceremony at the meeting.  Papers must be singly authored
     and not previously published or submitted for publication to be
     eligible for consideration.  To qualify, authors must be students
     in good standing who have not received their PhDs at the time of
     submission.

     In submitting their work for publication, authors are asked to
     consider SIAM journals.  However, student paper prize winners are
     not guaranteed publication in any SIAM journal; all papers
     submitted to SIAM journals are subject to the same refereeing
     process and standards.

     Submissions must be received in the SIAM office on or before
     March 15, 1998.

     Submissions, which must be in English, can be sent by regular
     mail or fax.  Each submission must include (1) an extended
     abstract NOT LONGER THAN 5 PAGES (including bibliography); (2)
     the complete paper, which will be used solely for clarification
     of any questions; (3) a statement by the student's faculty
     advisor that the paper has been prepared by the author indicated
     and that the author is a student in good standing; (4) a letter
     by the student's faculty advisor describing and evaluating the
     paper's contribution; and (5) a short biography of the student.

     Submissions will be judged on originality, significance, and
     quality of exposition.

     The winners will be notified by June 1, 1998.

     Please direct your submission and any questions you may have to
     A. Bogardo at SIAM, 3600 University City Science Center,
     Philadelphia, PA 19104-2688;telephone (215) 382-9800; e-mail to
     bogardo@siam.org; fax to (215) 386-7999.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: A. Bogardo 

     SIAM will present the 1998 W.T. and Idalia Reid Prize to
     Jacques-Louis Lions of College de France for his seminal
     contributions to the areas of partial differential equations,
     distributed parameter control and variational theory.

     The award will be presented on Thursday, July 16, at the SIAM
     Annual Meeting in Toronto.

     The first SIAM Activity Group on Control and Systems Theory Prize
     will be awarded to Andrew R. Teel, Department of Electrical and
     Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara.

     The prize is given to Teel for his fundamental contributions to
     the theory of nonlinear control.

     The prize will be awarded at the Fourth SIAM Conference on
     Control and Its Applications, May 7-9, in Jacksonville, Florida.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Peter Vanoverschee

RaPID, the end of heuristic PID tuning
======================================

RaPID (Robust Advanced PID Control) is a new and original
engineering tool for the design and implementation of optimal
PID controllers. It integrates experiment design, data acquisition, process
modeling and optimal PID control design. Special care has been
taken in emphasizing engineering specifications and requirements.
The result is an extremely user-friendly design tool that
facilitates model-based optimization of any PID controller.
Real time features include a sampling rate of up to 40 kHz.

RaPID is integrated in MATLAB as a toolbox and runs on a PC (Windows
95/NT) or a workstation.

More information about RaPID including a downloadable fully
functional demo version can be found on the ISMC website :

http://www.ismc.be

Application areas of RaPID include Chemical and Petro-Chemical
industry, Mechanics and Electronics, Pneumatics and Hydraulics,
Mechatronics, Metallurgy and Pulp & Paper, Food and Pharma control
problems, Water Treatment control problems, Power and Energy.

Ten practical industrial cases from project consulting and
experience in forementioned areas have been included in this tool, and can
also be downloaded with the demo version.

For more information of features, including technicalities and
pricing, contact:

Peter Van Overschee
ISMC nv
Kardinaal Mercierlaan 94
3001 Leuven
tel: +32/16/321095
fax: +32/16/321970
vanovers@ismc.be
http://www.ismc.be (where a downloadable version can be found)

RaPID contains the following basic features:

Data acquisition:
-----------------
The user can design test sequences (or use some predefined ones)
to obtain open or closed loop data from the
system or process under analysis.  These sequences are applied to
- the real process via file transfer to the PLC or DCS
- or to a Simulink model of the process.
With the real time extension of RaPID, one has the possibility to
communicate in real time with your favorite I/O board, PLC or DCS.
Sampling rates up to 40 kHz are attainable, so that even fast
mechatronic systems can be monitored.

Process Modeling:
-----------------
RaPID generates a linear model from the acquired experimental data
using state of the art identification methods that can incorporate
many a-priori engineering specifications.  Data preprocessing, model
inspection, visualization and validation are all performed at the
touch of a button.

Controller Design:
------------------
The controller design module optimizes engineering specifications
such as rise and settling time, overshoot and output variance.  It
guarantees a high robustness against plant variations and low noise
sensitivity. The controller structure is not limited to classical
PID's, but can also incorporate feed-forward control, double
derivative control, and other more advanced structures.  RaPID contains
many templates of industrial PID controllers, DCS's and PLC's.  This
enables you to compute and directly implement your controller on your
hardware platform by simple downloading.

The following table compares RaPID with a common auto-tuner:

RaPID <-->  auto-tuner

- Test sequence can be designed <--> Fixed test sequence
- Free model structure <--> Fixed model structure
- Controller tuning based on  highly relevant engineering
  specs<--> Only one heuristic specification can be given
- Many PID structures <--> Limited number of PID structures

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by:  Dale Seborg (seborg@engineering. ucsb.edu)

SHORT COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT:

PROCESS MONITORING AND IDENTIFICATION OF
DYNAMIC SYSTEMS USING STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES

Instructors:

Dr. Wallace E. Larimore; Adaptics, Inc,
Dr. Michael J. Piovoso, Du Pont Company
Prof. Dale E. Seborg; University of California, Santa Barbara

Date:          Monday/Tuesday, May 4-5, 1998; 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Location:      Days-Inn Hotel at Philadelphia Internation Airport
               (to become a Sheraton Hotel as of 1 April 1998)
               4101 Island Avenue
               Philadelphi, PA 19153
               Phone: 215 492-0400, Fax 215 365-6035

The latest information is available on the Web at

             http://www.adaptics.com

Please see this site for information on registration and fees.

SYNOPSIS
In this short course, the theory and application of statistically-based
monitoring and identification techniques will be considered.  Course
attendees will also have an opportunity to gain hands-on experience with
commercial software packages such as the PLS Toolbox (for PCA & PLS
applications) and the ADAPTx software for Automated Multivariable System
Identification.

In this short course, the traditional methods of process monitoring and
statistical quality control will be reviewed, and several advanced methods
for handling process dynamics and autocorrelated errors will be critically
evaluated.  These advanced methods include principal component analysis
(PCA), projection to latent structures (PLS), and canonical variate analysis
(CVA).  They are based on mutlivariate statistics, time series analysis, and
system identification.  Numerous simulation and experimental examples are
presented to illustrate key issues and to provide comparisons.

A new automated method is presented for identifying the system dynamics and
autocorrelated error structure based on canonical variate analysis (CVA), a
generalization of the PCA and PLS  methods.  The CVA approach allows for the
completely automatic modeling of the process dynamics and error structure.
>From a software user's viewpoint, the modeling of the process dynamics and
errors is no more difficult than fitting a static multivariate regression
model.  The CVA method is statistically optimal even in the presence of
known or unknown feedback paths that are often present in process
applications.

The PCA, PLS, and  CVA method are applied to a number of process
monitoring problems using both simulated and industrial data, and direct
comparison are made among these and alternative monitoring methods.
Attendees are encouraged to bring their laptop computers for instruction in
the use of two software packages.  Using the PLS Toolbox, the PCA and PLS
methods will be applied to data.  The ADAPTx software package for Automated
Multivariable System Identification will be used for identification in the
presense of feedback and colored disturbance processes, and assessing the
model accuracy and adequacy of the input excitation. Those unable to bring
a laptop computer will be paired with someone having a computer so that they
can learn the use of the software. See the web-site for more details.



              ******************************************
              *                                        *
              *              Positions                 *
              *                                        *
              ******************************************

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Siep Weiland 

             PhD. positions in optimal control
             Eindhoven University of Technology,
             The Netherlands


The Department of Mathematics together with the Department of Electrical
Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, invites
applications for two PhD. positions in the areas of linear systems subject
to saturations and L1-optimal control. The purpose of the research in both
positions is the development of algorithms for the synthesis of optimal
or almost optimal controllers which guarantee amplitude bounds for
controlled system behaviors. Both fundamental as well as practical aspects
are subject of investigation.

Preference will be given to candidates with a background in electrical
engineering, mathematics or related engineering sciences.

For further inquiries and applications, please contact:

Dr. S. Weiland                        or  Dr. A.A. Stoorvogel
Department of Electrical Engineering      Department of Mathematics
Eindhoven University of Technology        Eindhoven University of Technology
P.O.Box 513                               P.O.Box 513
5600 MB  Eindhoven                        5600 MB Eindhoven
The Netherlands                           The Netherlands
Tel:   +31.40.2473577                     Tel:   +31.40.2472378
Fax:   +31.40.2434582                     Fax:   +31.40.2442489
Email: s.weiland@ele.tue.nl               Email: wscoas@win.tue.nl


*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Ulrich Borgolte 

                            ANNOUNCEMENT
                            ============

FernUniversitaet Hagen, Germany, has several posts available for

     Research Assistants in Mobile Robotics / Rehabilitation Robotics.

The young Researchers will work on the European Project MOBINET which aims
to develop a mobile robot to assist elderly and disabled people. More
information about this project can be found at

              http://147.102.33.1/mobinet/mobhome.htm

1.) At the Chair of Process Control (PRT) within the Department of
Electrical Engineering of FernUniversitaet Hagen there are two research
positions focusing on the control of mobile robots and sensor integration
to path planning. Candidates should have experience in Robot Design, Robot
Control, or Sensorics.

2.) At FTB, a research institute for assistive technology at
FernUniversitaet Hagen, there are two research positions open focusing on
advanced human-machine interaction for disabled people and applications for
(mobile) rehabilitation robots. Candidates should have experience in
electronics and/or computer programming.


Ideally the persons will have a PhD or MSc in Computer Science, Electrical
Engineering, or Mechanical Engineering. The salary will be from 64'000
German Marks per year, depending on age and family status of the
candidates. The duration of the contracts is 3-12 months at PRT and 6-12
months at FTB.

Candidates from all member states of the European Community except Germany
are welcome. We're sorry, but citizens of other countries are not eligible
(this is due to restrictions by the project contract).

Further information is available from:

Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Borgolte
FernUniversitaet Hagen
ET/PRT
Feithstrasse 140
D 58084 Hagen / Germany
Tel.:  +49-2331-987 1106
Fax.:  +49-2331-987 354
email: ulrich.borgolte@fernuni-hagen.de
WWW:   http://prt.fernuni-hagen.de/

as well as

Dr.-Ing. Helmut Heck
Forschungsinstitut Technologie-Behindertenhilfe (FTB)
der Evangelischen Stiftung Volmarstein
Grundschoetteler Str. 40     Telefon: +49 (0) 2335 9681-21
D-58300 Wetter/Ruhr          Telefax: +49 (0) 2335 9681-19
Germany                      E-Mail: hk@FTB-Volmarstein.de
Home-Page:  http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/FTB/

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Ken Mease

                        Postdoctoral Research Position
                        In Flight Guidance and Control

The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of
California, Irvine invites applications for a postdoctoral research position
beginning May 1998 in the area of flight guidance and control.  Preference
will be given to applicants with experience in flight guidance and control
and background in one or more of the following areas of control theory:
linear parameter varying systems, systems with control saturation, and
nonlinear systems. Applicants must have a Ph.D. degree. Software development
skills are desirable. See http://www.eng.uci.edu/~fdcl_www/lab.html for
information on current and previous research projects. For full
consideration, each applicant should send his/her resume and the names of
three references by April 1, 1998 via email, fax or regular mail to

Professor K. D. Mease
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dept.
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697-3975
Email: kmease@uci.edu
Fax: (714) 824-8585

UCI is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to excellence through diversity.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Vladimir Polotski


                         POSITIONS AVAILABLE


The Perception and Robotics Laboratory (GRPR) of "Ecole Polytechnique
de Montreal" has IMMEDIATELY  few scholarships for Master and PhD
students in the field of image processing. computer vision, virtual
reality, control and robotics.

Successful candidates are supposed to have a background in electrical
and/or computer engineering and to be interested in carrying research in
the area of intelligent systems.

For more information about GRPR, please check the following WWW address:
http://www.ai.polymtl.ca

Interested candidates should send a resume and relevant information to

Dr. Vladimir Polotski
G.R.P.R., DGEGI,
Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal
C.P. 6079, Succ. Centre-ville
Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3A7
Fax : (514) 340-5802
E-mail : polotski@ai.polymtl.ca

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Martin J. Brenner

                NASA/RRA/NRC Research Awards for 1998
                at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

NASA Resident Research Associateship (RRA)
administered by the National Research Council (NRC)

Postdoctoral and Senior Research Awards for 1998
Opportunity for Research at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

Proposed Research Title:
Robust Nonlinear Stability Estimation of Aeroservoelastic Systems
from Flight Data Measurements

Aeroservoelastic testing is often extensive and time consuming for careful and
safe envelope expansion. Aeroservoelastic models are subject to errors caused
by simplifications in structural and aerodynamic modeling. The following
contributions complicate uncertainty descriptions in aeroservoelasticity:
(1) assumptions of linearity and reduced modal complexity,
(2) aerodynamic simplifications to reduce computational complexity, and
(3) unmodeled interactions between structural dynamics and aerodynamics.

Estimation from flight data must account for structured uncertainty, including
nonlinearity, to distinguish linear from nonlinear dynamics for uncertain
model definition. The ability to identify and control nonlinear
phenomena is extremely important to the aerospace community. Aeroelastic
nonlinear dynamics are becoming vital for advanced design configurations.

Confidence bounds are desired in identification schemes to guarantee system
stability within a flight regime. Identification from flight data consistent
with the uncertainty and disturbance models is desired for an explicit
measure of stability at any flight condition.

Application of time-frequency multiscale methods is an attractive approach to
this research. Wavelets provide systematic tools for signal processing of
nonlinear and time-varying systems. Wavelet research concentrates on
applying algorithms to generate time-frequency multiscale representations
to identify nonlinear and time-varying aspects of the system dynamics.

Dryden is studying linear and nonlinear identification algorithms and
methodologies for in-flight aeroservoelastic robust stability determination.
Intelligent data processing and analysis methods are desired for accurate
control-oriented stability determination during flight testing.
This integrated research effort requires innovative data
processing, modeling, identification, and robust system theory applications.

See:            http://bass.dfrc.nasa.gov/brenner.html

Advisor:                Marty Brenner
                        NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
                        MS 4840D / RS
                        Edwards, California 93523-0273

                        Phone: 805-258-3793
                        Fax: 805-258-2586
                        email: martin.brenner@dfrc.nasa.gov

Postdoctoral Research Associateships are awarded to persons who have held the
doctorate less than five years and are made initially for one year. Extensions
to two years are common.

Senior Research Associateships are awarded only to applicants who have held
the doctorate five years or more and demonstrate research experience that has
resulted in significant contributions and recognition as established
investigators. They are usually for one year, but awards for periods of three
months or longer may be considered.

A Research Associate must conduct his research full-time and on-site.

This opportunity for research IS ONLY OPEN TO US CITIZENS.

The FINAL review of applications is conducted by special panels appointed
by the NRC. Evaluations are conducted in February, June, and October.
Awards are made only by the NRC.

The current annual stipend is approximately $50,000 for Postdoctoral Research
Associate, and approximately $80,000 for Senior Research Associate.

Detailed information on procedures and all necessary application materials
and supporting documents are available on request from:

                Associateship Programs          E-mail: rap@nas.edu
                TJ 2114                         WWW: http://www.nas.edu/rap
                National Research Council       Gopher: nas.edu/rap
                2101 Constitution Avenue NW
                Washington, D.C. 20418

Supporting documents must be received approximately one month later than
Received date.

Application deadlines:          Postmark        Received

February Review deadline -      Jan 15          Jan 25
June Review deadline -          Apr 15          Apr 25
October Review deadline -       Aug 15          Aug 25

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: K. K. Tan

           2 RESEARCH FELLOW  POSITIONS AVAILABLE

        Gintic Institute of Manufacturing Technology
        Nanyang Technological University
        71 Nanyang Drive
        Singapore 638075

        Fax : 7916377

Upstream Project (ref : U98-A-032)
Title : Research and Development for a High-Speed, Ultra-Precision
Robotic System for Assembly and Process Automation

Master or Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering or Mechanical
Engineering with a specialization in advanced servo control.  Applicants
with a master degree should have at least 5 years relevant working
experience.

Applicants should have knowledge and experience in these areas:

Nonlinear and adaptive control
DSP real-time motion control applications and integration to CNC systems
C and CNC programming
High precision linear motor systems
Sensors and Instrumentation
VMEbus systems

Please  send a detailed resume and the names and contact information
for at least two referees to Dr Lim Ser Yong at the address above.
Enquiries may be directed to Dr K. K. Tan at eletankk@nus.edu.sg.
The search will continue until open positions are filled.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
Contributed by: Moshe Idan


                     Postdoctoral or PhD Position
                 Aerospace and Electrical Engineering
              Technion - Israel Institute of Technology


The Technion has an immediate opening for a two-year post-doc position,
to pursue research on non-linear fault detection and isolation, with
application to robust and affordable flight control systems for small
commercial aircraft. The project is part of a large scale European effort
and is funded by the Brite-Euram foundation.  The successful candidate is
expected to have some working knowledge of at least one of the following
fields: flight control, neural networks, non-linear filtering, and
non-linear system identification. Experience in applying non-linear
approaches, such as neural networks, extended Kalman filtering etc. to
real-world problems is a definite asset.

Candidates are expected to have a Ph.D. in Aerospace or Electrical
Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or Computer Science.  Strong analytical
skills and demonstrated ability to perform creative research, along with
practical experience with Matlab, C, or C++ are essential.

The position is also open to practicing engineers with similar backgrounds,
who wish to pursue a two year research program on the above topics. For
candidates holding the Masters degree, the program may lead to a topic for a
PhD thesis in Aerospace or Electrical Engineering at the Technion.

Salaries and social benefits are commensurate with those of senior research
associates or senior engineers at the Technion, depending on the candidates
background and credentials.

The project will be conducted under the joint supervision of:

Dr. Moshe Idan                             Dr. Ron Meir
Faculty of Aerospace Eng.                  Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Technion - IIT                             Technion - IIT
Haifa, 32000, Israel                       Haifa, 32000, Israel
Tel.   : ++972-4-8293489                   Tel.   : ++972-4-8294658
Fax.   : ++972-4-8231848                   Fax.   : ++972-4-8323041
E-mail : aeridan@aeron.technion.ac.il      E-mail : rmeir@dumbo.technion.ac.il

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Manuel Duarte-Mermoud


The Electical Engineering Department of the University of Chile has new
openings for young (up to 35 years old) asssistant and associate
professor positions in the area of telecommunications. Visiting
Professors for a period of 1 or 2 years will also be considereded.
The applicants should have a recent Ph.D. in electrical
engineering/computer science, although applications from outstanding
candidates with different profiles will be accepted.
Experience in industrial research and fluency in Spanish are not
compulsory, but they will be considered strong assets.  The candidates
are expected to participate in teaching (telecommunications at the
undergraduate and graduated level) and undertake research
collaborations with industry and academic partners.

The ideal candidate has a high research interest in one or several of
the following areas:

- High-speed Networking (ATM)
- Network Interconnection and Security
- Network Management and Services
- Network Simulation and Planning

- Radio System Engineering
- Wireless Communications and Mobility
- Mobile Network Services

- Communication and Information Theory
- Digital Signal Processing

A monthly salary of about US$3,000 will be offered for the position of
assistant professor.  This salary could be incremented with honoraries
coming from projects with telecommunications companies or from
consultancies requested by the government.

The positions are already available and applications will be accepted
until the positions are filled.  For further information or applications
(motivation letter, curriculum vitae, passport picture, 2 reference
letters and copies of abstracts of recent publications) please
contact:

Nicolas H. Beltran, Head
Electrical Engineering Dept., University of Chile
Casilla 412-3. Santiago.Chile
Internet: nbeltra@tamarugo.cec.uchile.cl
n.beltran@ieee.org
Phone: 56-2-696 6938           Fax: 56-2-695 3881


*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by Eric Rogers

        POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP IN FEEDBACK CONTROL THEORY
                   APPLIED TO FLOW CONTROL PROBLEMS

                    University of Southampton, UK


Recent years have seen the emergence of a very strong interest in
the application of feedback control schemes applied to flow control
problems.  This interest has been stimulated by the developments in
robust control theory/applications.  Research in flow control
is well established at Southampton where to date this emphasis
has been on `relatively simple' flow regimes and, in particular, the
development of techniques to actually implement simple structure
control laws in wind tunnel tests for boundary layer
transition control.

This 3 year research fellowship, funded by The Faculty of Engineering
and Applied Science at Southampton University, is to undertake
basic research into the application of robust control to more complex
flow patterns/problems.  It will be complementary to on-going
development work on boundary layer transition control which is funded
by both industry, the UK government through its funding agencies, and
the EU.

The successful candidate must have (or be completing) a PhD in
robust/adaptive control theory or related areas and will join an
inter-disciplinary team of specialists in control systems, computational
fluid mechanics, and measurement/instrumentation.  Further details can
be obtained from Dr Eric Rogers (e.mail etar@ecs.soton.ac.uk,
tel 44 (1703) 592197, fax 44 (1703) 594498) to whom applications,
in the form of a cv giving the names and contact details of
2 referees, must be received by 20 April 1998.  In view of the short
timescale, applications by e.mail or fax are very welcome.


*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Eva Zerz 


                                 FACULTY POSITIONS

                             Department of Mathematics
                       University of Kaiserslautern, Germany

The Systems & Control Group at the Department of Mathematics,
University of Kaiserslautern, invites applications for faculty
positions. Our areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

* parametrization problems in linear systems theory;
* (numerical methods for) DAE systems;
* algebraic systems theory;
* multidimensional systems and behaviours;
* neural networks and approximation theory.

Qualifications:

* Ph.D. or M.Sc. in mathematics, with a background
  in systems and control;
* strong commitment to research.

Teaching experience is welcome but not mandatory.

Ph.D. scholarships and a post-doc research scholarship
are also available in the graduate school
``Graduiertenkolleg Technomathematik.''

Please send your application by regular mail to

Prof. D. Praetzel-Wolters
Fachbereich Mathematik
Universitaet Kaiserslautern
Postfach 3049
67653 Kaiserslautern
Germany.

Closing date for applications is April 24, 1998.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Rene Boel 

In the SYSTeMS Research Group of the University of Gent, Belgium, there
is a vacancy for a full-time researcher, for work on optimisation
algorithms and tarification for broadband communication networks. This
research is part of a project on "Design and Control of Broadband
Networks for Multimedia Applications" applying techniques from control
engineering to optimal routing, capacity allocation, and tarification
for ATM networks. The present vacancy is until December 1998, but
extension for longer periods (including the possibility of using the
work as a starting point of doctoral research) may be possible,
depending on availability of funds.

Prospective candidates are expected to have an undergraduate engineering
degree, with some background in control and/or communications, or a
mathematics or O.R. degree with interests in communication networks.

Starting date: as soon as possible (candidates from EU countries can
start immediately);
Salary scale: depending on degree and experience BEF45.000-60.000 net
per month;

For further information contact: Dr. Rene' Boel at rene.boel@rug.ac.be

Send C.V. to:
                     Dr. Rene Boel,
                     SYSTeMS Group
                     Universiteit Gent
                     Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 9
                     B-9052 Gent
                     Belgium

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Clive Marsh

                                 Postgraduate Research Fellow
                        Institute of Technology and Engineering
                                        Massey University
                                Palmerston North, New Zealand.

We have a vacancy for a research fellow to study the modelling and control
of Auto Thermal Aerobic Digestion (ATAD) waste treatment processes.  The
position is funded through the Graduate Research in Industry Fellowship
(GRIF) programme at a rate of NZ$18,943 (tax-free).  The funding is
currently available for 1 year with a strong potential for extension to 3.
Persons seeking both Masters and PhD qualifications should apply.  The
project is in collaboration with Waste Solutions ltd., Mosgiel, Dunedin,
with whom the fellow will spend approximately 60% of their time.
Applicants should be NZ/Aussie citezens or permanent residents.  We seek
persons with skills/interest in process modelling and control, familarity
with waste treatment plant is not necessary.

The starting date is asap.

Closing date:   30 April 1998

To apply, please forward your CV by email to Dr. Clive Marsh
(C.marsh@massey.ac.nz).

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by:  Jan Maciejowski  jmm@eng.cam.ac.uk

         Post-doc position in System Identification

         CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, Department of Engineering

A post-doc position is available on the project `Integration of
subspace and parametric system identification methods for linear
and bilinear systems'.  This is a 3-year project funded by the
EPSRC, due to start on 1 June 1998, or soon after that date.
The project aims to extend subspace methods to the
identification of bilinear systems, and to facilitate the
integration of these methods with other methods by developing
software to encapsulate new and existing algorithms. The
Principal Investigator on this project is Dr J.M.Maciejowski.

Applications are invited. It is expected that the successful
candidate will have completed a PhD in Systems Theory or Control
Engineering, or possibly a related subject such as Time Series
Analysis, and will have some acquaintance with System
Identification and/or Linear Systems Theory at a research level.
A willingness to work both on new theory and on coding (in
Matlab) is essential.

The period of employment will be up to three years.  The salary will be on
the Research Assistant scale, and will be up to 17600 pounds per year,
approximately, depending on the age and experience of the applicant.

Application forms and further particulars can be obtained from:

Ms S Bennett
Cambridge University Engineering Dept.
Trumpington Street, Cambridge, CB2 1PZ
England

Tel: +44 1223 332711,  Fax: +44 1223 332662
Email: sjb@eng.cam.ac.uk

Closing date for applications: Friday 15 May 1998.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Ken Hunt 


        Research Assistant Positions in Modelling and Control

        Centre for Systems and Control
        University of Glasgow
        Scotland

Applications are invited for up to two Research Assistant
positions in a project concerned with application of modelling,
identification and control in the automotive industry. Appointment
can be at the doctoral or post-doctoral level.

The project is funded by Daimler-Benz Research and Technology
(Berlin and Stuttgart), and will involve significant interaction
with the company, including implementation trials in experimental
vehicles.

Two areas of particular interest are physically-based modelling
and identification of vehicle components, and robust feedback control
design using polynomial methods. The use of Matlab/SIMULINK
will be essential for this work, and candidates should have
significant experience with this software.

Applications (CV + List of Publications) and enquiries
should be addressed to:

        Professor K J Hunt
        Department of Mechanical Engineering
        University of Glasgow
        Glasgow G12 8QQ
        Scotland

        Tel: + 44 141 330 4340
        Fax: + 44 141 330 4343
        Email: k.hunt@mech.gla.ac.uk

Information about the University of Glasgow and the
Centre for Systems and Control can be found on the WWW:

        http://www.gla.ac.uk/
        http://www.mech.gla.ac.uk/Control/

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Jan van Schuppen (J.H.van.Schuppen@cwi.nl)


CALL FOR FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS
issued by the
European Research Network System Identification (ERNSI)


Applications are invited for fellowships at the post-doctoral and at
the Ph.D. student level with the research teams of ERNSI.
The positions are financially supported by the European Commission
through the EU TMR Project System Identification (ERB FMRX CT98 0206).
The project has started 1998 March 1.

Please show this call to potential applicants and post it at your
institute. A version of the complete call is available on the
web at the address
http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/departments/PNA2/callfships.html

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by B. Castillo toledo@gdl.cinvestav.mx


The Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV-IPN) in
Guadalajara, Mexico, offers an associate professor and a full professor
positions. Applicants should be able to communicate in English. They
should hold a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with emphasis in
Communications Engineering and should be proficient and active in
lecturing and research in any of the following areas:
- Digital Communications
- Modern Telephony
- Signal Processing
- Optical Communications
- Computer Networks
- Wireless Communications
Period: one year, renewable, starting anytime after January 1, 1998
Please send a CV with publication list, two references and a summary of
research interests and experience to:

Prof. Arturo Veloz
Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
CINVESTAV- IPN. Campus Guadalajara.
Prol. Lpez Mateos Sur 590
45090 Guadalajara, Jal.
MEXICO
Tel.  (52 3) 684-1580
Fax  (52 3) 684-1580
E-mail: arturov@marte.cinv.iteso.mx
More information is available at  http://www.gdl.cinvestav.mx


              ******************************************
              *                                        *
              *                Books                   *
              *                                        *
              ******************************************


*** No book announcements in this Eletter ***



              ******************************************
              *                                        *
              *               Journals                 *
              *                                        *
              ******************************************

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by Huibert Kwakernaak

                                        AUTOMATICA
===============================
Table of contents Issue    34:2


Editorials

H. Kwakernaak/A. B. Haurie            A new editorial appointment/Management and
                                      decision sciences, challenge and opportunities
                                      for control and ..........


Regular Papers

E. S. Quintana-Orti, V.               Parallel solution of Riccati matrix equations
Hernandez                             with the matrix sign function

Hao Ying                              The Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy controllers using the
                                      simplified linear control rules are nonlinear
                                      variable gain controllers

C. Bernardeschi, A.                   Temporal analysis of data flow control systems
Bondavalli, L. Simoncini, et
 al.

J. F. Lafay, V. Kucera, P.            Model matching for linear systems with delays
Picard                                and 2-D systems


Brief Papers

G. Conte, A. Serrani                  Robust control of a remotely operated
                                      underwater vehicle

C. Edwards, I. Postlethwaite          Anti-windup and bumpless-transfer schemes

R. Kumar, M. A. Shayman               Formulae relating controllability,
                                      observability, and co- observability

H. Yang, M. Saif                      Observer design and fault diagnosis for state
                                      retarded dynamical systems

L. Y. Pao, W. E. Singhose             Robust minimum time control of flexible
                                      structures

C-A. Lin, C-M. Wu                     Block-decoupling linear multivariable systems:
                                       Necessary and sufficient conditions

S. Fabri, V. Kadirkamanathan
                                      Dual adaptive control of nonlinear stochastic
                                      systems using neural networks

Wen Tan, T.P. Leung, Q-l. Tu          H-infinity control for singularly perturbed
                                      systems

D. G. Robertson, Jay H. Lee           A method for the estimation of infrequent
                                      abrupt changes  in nonlinear systems


Technical Communiques

A. V. Savkin, I. R. Petersen
                                      Robust state estimation and model validation
                                      for discrete-time uncertain systems with a
                                      deterministic description of noise.......

M. K. Tippett                         Bounds for the solution of the discrete
                                      algebraic Lyapunov equation



===============================
Table of contents Issue    34:3

Editorials

J. C. Willems                         Obituary for G. Zames

Regular Papers

E. Skafidas, A. Fradkov, R.           Trajectory approximation based adaptive
J. Evans, I.M.Y. Mareels              control for nonlinear systems under matching
                                      conditions


Brief Papers

M. Farza, K. Busawon, H.              Simple nonlinear observers for on-line
Hammouri                              estimation of kinetic rates in bioreactors

G-H. Wu, Y-G. Xi, Z-J. Zhang          Robust controller design based on simplified
                                      triangular model

Reyad El-Khazali                      Variable structure robust control of uncertain
                                       time-delay systems

Er-Wei Bai                            An optimal two stage identification algorithm
                                      for Hammerstein- Wiener nonlinear systems

G. Calcev, R. Gorez, M. De            Passivity approach to fuzzy control systems
Neyer

Gong Zhiming, Y. Chen, C.             Analysis of a high-order iterative learning
Wen                                   control algorithm for uncertain nonlinear
                                      systems with state delays

C. Bonivento, M. Sandri, R.           Discrete variable-structure integral
Zanasi                                controllers

C. Lin, J. Wang, C. B. Soh            Necessary and sufficient conditions for the
                                      controllability of linear interval descriptor
                                      systems

T. Mita, J. B. Matson, B. D.          A complete and simple parametrization of
 O. Anderson                          controllers for a nonstandard H(infinity)
                                      problem

M. S. Fofana, D. J.  Lamb,            On the stability bifurcation of a nonlinear
jr.                                   time delay system

A. Levant                             Robust exact differentiation via sliding mode
                                      technique


Technical Communiques

D. D'Alessandro                       A parametrization of the nonnegative definite
                                      solutions of the algebraic Riccati equation

X.. Yu,  M. Zhihong                   Multi-input uncertain linear systems with
                                      terminal sliding mode control

Liu Xiaoping                          Asymptotic output tracking of nonlinear
                                      differential-algebraic control systems


===============================
Table of contents Issue    34:4


Regular Papers

B. Ninness                            A stochastic approach to linear estimation in
                                      H(infinity)

M. F. Sagfors, H. T.                  H(infinity) control of multirate sampled-data
Toivonen, B. Lennartson               systems: A state-space approach


Brief Papers

F. Ikhouane, M. Krstic                Adaptive backstepping with parameter
                                      projection: Robustness and asymptotic
                                      performance

Xiang Chen, Guoxiang Gu, P.           Rotating stall control via bifurcation
Martin, K. Zhou                       stabilization

P. Caravani, S. Di Gennaro            Robust control of synchronous motors with
                                      non-linearities and parameter uncertainties

A. Bemporad, E. Mosca                 Fulfilling hard constraints in uncertain
                                      linear systems by reference managing

J. Bokor, F. Schipp
                                      Approximate identification in Laguerre and
                                      Kautz bases

V. Petridis, Ath. Kehagias            A multi-model algorithm for parameter
                                      estimation of time- varying nonlinear systems

A. Varga, S. Pieters                  Gradient-based approach to solve optimal
                                      periodic output feedback control problems

Y-H. Liu, S. Arimoto                  Adaptive and nonadaptive hybrid controllers
                                      for rheonomically constrained manipulators


Technical Communiques

L. Qian, X. Lue, J. Wang, S.           Synthesis of quadratic stability control for
Zhang                                 similar composite systems

S. Daniel-Berhe, H.                   Bilinear continuous-time systems
Unbehauen                             identification via Hartley based modulation
                                      functions

K-C. Hsu                              Variable structure control design for
                                      uncertain dynamic systems with sector
                                      nonlinearities

G-R. Duan, R. J. Patton               A note on Hurwitz stability of matrices

S. W. Sung, In-Beum Lee, J.           New process identification method for
Lee                                   automatic design of PID controllers

F. Amato, M. Mattei, A.               A robust stability problem for discrete-time
Pironti                               systems subject to an uncertain parameter


*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: A.H. Zemanian (zeman@sbee.sunysb.edu)

Table of Contents for:

       CIRCUITS, SYSTEMS, AND SIGNAL PROCESSING

     THE SYDNEY R. PARKER MEMORIAL VOLUME, PART II

             (Vol. 17, No. 2, 1998)

Halfband filters and Hilbert transformers,
    H.W. Schuessler and P. Steffen

Computationally efficient, robust algorithm for matched field processing,
    Anthony J. DeGroot and David B. Harris

On neural network design - Part I: Using the MVQ algorithm,
    W.A. Porter and A.H. Abou-ali

Global asymptotic stability of a class of feedback neural networks with an
application to optimization problems,
    Zhaoshu Feng and Anthony N. Michel

Are analog neural networks better than binary neural networks?
    M. Vidyasagar

Optimal interpolating and smoothing functional artificial neural networks
(FANNs) based on a generalized Fock space framework,
    Rui J.P.de Figueiredo

Average power analysis of sequential circuits using an autoregressive model,
    Li-pen Yuan and Sung-Mo Kang

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Taylor & Francis Table of Contents Service


International Journal of Control
Volume:- 69  Issue:- 6

Publication Date (Expected):  3rd April 1998

Contents:-

Title: VSS theory-based disturbance estimation scheme for MIMO systems and
its applications
Authors:  X. Chen, T. Fukuda.
Pages 733-752.

Title: Uncertainty compensation for a flexible-link manipulator using
nonlinear H(infinity) control
Authors:  M. J. Yazdanpanah, K. Khorasani, R. V. Patel.
Pages 753-771.

Title: On the existence of  globally stable actuator saturation compensators
Authors:  C. W. Chan, K. Hui.
Pages 773-788.

Title: On the stabilization of discrete system zeros
Authors:  J. H. Chan.
Pages 789-796.

Title: Strong  stabilization  of  MIMO  systems  via  unimodular
interpolation in  H (infinity)
Authors:  A. A. Saif, Da-Wei Gu, I.Postlethwaite.
Pages 797-818.

Title: A simple method to guarantee closed-loop stability when
continuous-time systems are discretized
Authors:  M. O'Malley, A. De Paor.
Pages 819-836.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Ira D. Smiley, Production Editor,

SIAM Journal on Control and  Optimization
Volume 36, Number 3, MAY 1998

     CONTENTS

     Equilibrium Conditions for Young Measures
     Pablo Pedregal

     Differential Games with Unbounded versus Bounded Controls
     Franco Rampazzo

     Asynchronous Stochastic Approximations
     Vivek S. Borkar

     Boundary Value Problems and Optimal Boundary Control for the
     Navier-Stokes System:  The Two-Dimensional Case
     A. V. Fursikov, M. D. Gunzburger, and L. S. Hou

     Existence of an Optimal Solution of a Shape Control Problem for the
     Stationary Navier-Stokes Equations
     Max D. Gunzburger and Hongchul Kim

     Central Limit Theorem and Law of Iterated Logarithm for Least Squares
     Algorithms in Adaptive Tracking
     Bernard Bercu

     Stochastic Near-Optimal Controls:  Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
     for Near-Optimality
     Xun Yu Zhou

     The Symmetric Rendezvous-Evasion Game
     Steve Alpern and Wei Shi Lim

     An Integral Invariance Principle for Differential Inclusions with
     Applications in Adaptive Control
     E. P. Ryan

     Optimal Boundary Control of the Stokes Fluids with Point Velocity
     Observations
     Puhong You, Zhonghai Ding, and Jianxin Zhou

     Globally and Superlinearly Convergent Algorithm for Minimizing a
     Normal Merit Function
     Elijah Polak and Liqun Qi

     Ergodic Boundary/Point Control of Stochastic Semilinear Systems
     T. E. Duncan, B. Maslowski, and B. Pasik-Duncan

     Proximal Analysis and the Minimal Time Function
     Peter R. Wolenski and Yu Zhuang

     A Classical Approach to Uniform Null Controllability for Elastic Beams
     Miguel Angel Moreles

     Exponential Decay of Energy of the Euler-Bernoulli Beam with Locally
     Distributed Kelvin-Voigt Damping
     Kangsheng Liu and Zhuangyi Liu

     Optimal Control of Inflation:  A Central Bank Problem
     Maria B. Chiarolla and Ulrich G. Haussmann

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Tricia Manning

JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE
Volume 335B(2), March 1998
Part Special Issue on Biomathematics

Part I: Special Issue on Biomathematics

Introduction
Boston, R.C. and Mejia, R.
page v-x

Forest-fire as a Model for the Dynamics of Disease Epidemics
Rhodes, C.J. and Anderson, R.M.
page 199-211

The Waters of Life
Chao, Z., Kimura, S.R., Zhiping, W., Vajda, S., Brower, R.C. and Delisi, C.
page 213-240

Biomathematical Applications in Ruminant Nutrition
France, J., Dijkstra, J., Dhanoa, M.S. and Baldwin, R.L.
page 241-258

Design of Experiments
Jacquez, J.A.
page 259-279

JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE
Volume 335B(3), April 1998

A Theory of Discontinuities in Physical System Models
Mosterman, P.J. and Biswas, G.
page 401-439

Orthogonal Functions Approach to the Analysis of Discrete-time Systems is
Unnecessary
Mohan, B.M. and Datta, K.B.
page 441-449

Proposition of a Modeling Method for Constrained Mechanical Systems Based
on the Vector Bond Graph
Jinhee, J. and Changsoo, C.
page 451-469

Synthesis of Controllers for Arbitrary Pole Placement in Discrete Plants
Including Unstable Zeros with Extensions to Adaptive Control
De la Sen, M. and Pena, A.
page 471-502

Output Tracking of a Class of Unknown Nonlinear Discrete-time Systems Using
Neural Networks
Horng, J.
page 503-515

Robust H Controller Design for Linear Uncertain Systems with Delayed State
and Control
Jingcheng, W., Hongye, S. and Jian, C.
page 517-524

On the Discrete Linear Quadratic Minimum-time Problem
El Alami, N., Ouansafi, A. and Znaidi, N.
page 525-532

A BIBO Stability Theorem for a Two-dimensional Feedback Discrete System
with Discontinuities
Kotsios, S. and Feely, O.
page 533-537

Minimum Zone Separation Functionals: The Spatial Case
Kaiser, M.J.
page 539-561

A Fast Robust LMS Algorithm Utilizing the Dynamics of a Damped Pendulum
Haddad, T.F. and Khasawneh, M.A.
page 563-577

Problems of Control of a Hopping Apparatus
Larin, V.B.
page 579-593


*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by:  Yuri L. Sachkov (sachkov@sys.botik.ru)

          JOURNAL  OF DYNAMICAL AND CONTROL SYSTEMS
                  Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1998

                        CONTENTS

The Extended Monodromy Group and Liouvillian First Integrals      1--28
H. Zoladek

Exact Controllability of a Hybrid System, Membrane with
Strings, on General Polygon Domains                              29--48
Bo Liu

Necessary Optimality Conditions for Optimal Control Problems
with Intermediate Constraints                                    49--58
A.V. Arutyunov, A.I. Okoulevitch

Sub-Riemannian Geometry: One-Parameter Deformation
of the Martinet Flat Case                                        59--76
B. Bonnard, M. Chyba, E. Trelat

Chronological Calculus, High-Order Necessary Conditions
for Optimality, and Perturbation Methods                        77--126
A.I. Tretyak

On a Loewner Umbilic-Index Conjecture for Surfaces
Immersed in R^4                                                127--136
C. Gutierrez, F. Sanchez-Bringas

On Invariant Orthants of Bilinear Systems                      137--147
Yu.L. Sachkov


The detailed information about the Journal of Dynamical and
Control Systems may be found at its WWW homepages:

        http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~yakov/JDCS
        http://math.la.asu.edu/~kawski/JDCS
        http://www.botik.ru/~sachkov/JDCS

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Hershkowitz Daniel 


We are happy to announce the publication of the first paper in the 3rd
volume of ELA - the Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra.

This volume is dedicated to Hans Schneider on the occasion his 70th
birthday. It starts with a dedication by the editors (including Hans'
picture) and a preface, written by Richard A. Brualdi and Daniel
Hershkowitz.

The paper:

   Roger A. Horn and Fuad Kittaneh,
   Bound on the Hadamard Product with a Cauchy Matrix,
   ELA 3 (1998), 4-12.

is now posted in ELA's primary homepage:

   http://www.math.technion.ac.il/iic/ela/

ELA's mirror sites are:

   http://www.math.temple.edu/iic/ela          (Temple University)

   http://hermite.cii.fc.ul.pt/iic/ela/        (Univ. Lisbon)

   http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/ftp-home/pub/ela  (Univ. Chemnitz)


*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Deidre Wunderlich,
                Production Editor

SIAM Journal on Matrix Analysis and Applications
Volume 19, Number 2, APRIL 1998
CONTENTS

Stable and Efficient Algorithms for Structured Systems of Linear Equations
Ming Gu

H-Selfadjoint and H-Unitary Matrix Pencils
Ilya Krupnik and Peter Lancaster

Applications of the Dulmage-Mendelsohn Decomposition and Network Flow to
Graph Bisection Improvement
Cleve Ashcraft and Joseph W. H. Liu

Sign Controllability: Sign Patterns that Require Complete Controllability
Michael J. Tsatsomeros

More on Concavity of a Matrix Function
Jurgen Gross

On the Relationship Between Graphs and Totally Positive Matrices
J. M. Pena

The QR Decomposition and the Singular Value Decomposition in the
Symmetrized Max-Plus Algebra
Bart De Schutter and Bart De Moor

On the Block Independence in Reflexive Inner Inverse and M-P Inverse of
Block Matrix
Yiju Wang

On the Sandwich Semigroups of Group Boolean Matrices
Cen Jianmiao

Perturbation Analysis for the Cholesky Downdating Problem
Xiao-Wen Chang and Christopher C. Paige

Single-Input Eigenvalue Assignment Algorithms: A Close Look
Mark Arnold and Biswa Nath Datta

A Cubically Convergent Parallelizable Method for the Hermitian Eigenvalue
Problem
Hongyuan Zha and Zhenyue Zhang

Simultaneous Contractibility
Tsuyoshi Ando and Mau-hsiang  Shih

Determinant Maximization with Linear Matrix Inequality Constraints
Lieven Vandenberghe, Stephen Boyd, and Shao-Po Wu

Overcoming Instability in Computing the Fundamental Matrix for a Markov
Chain
Daniel P. Heyman and Dianne P. O'Leary

Quadratic Residual Bounds for the Hermitian Eigenvalue Problem
Roy Mathias

The Relation Between the QR and LR Algorithms
Hongguo Xu

Complementation in Stochastic Matrices and the GTH Algorithm
E. Seneta

Condition Numbers of Random Triangular Matrices
D. Viswanath and L. N. Trefethen

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by:Wayne Yuhasz

Table of Contents
Journal of Mathematical Systems, Estimation, and Control
Volume 8, Number 2, 1998


Forward/Backward Periodic Realizations of Nonproper
        Rational Matrices
        Vincente D. Estruch, Vincent Hernandez,
        Elena Sanchez, and Carmen Coll   155


Summary: Uniform Exponential Stability of Approximation
        in Linear Viscoelasticity
        Zhuangyi Liu and Songmu Zheng   177


Summary: On an inverse Dynamic Problem
        for the Goursat-Darboux System
        A.I. Korotkii and I.A. Tsepelev   181


Summary: The Minimum Time Function with Unbounded Controls
        F. Rampazzo and C. Sartori  185


Summary: A Note on the Mathematical Modelling
        of Damped Second Order Systems
        John A. Burns and Belinda B. King  189


Summary: Ergodic Properties of Quotients of Horocycle Flows
        on the Poincare Upper Half Plane
        Dorothy I. Wallace   193


Summary: Numerical Experiments on Approximated
        Acoustic-Structure Systems
        F. Fahroo and C. Wang   197


Summary: Harmonic Forcing for Linear Distributed Parameter Systems
        C.I. Byrnes, D.S. Gilliam, I.G. Lauko, and V.I. Shubov   201


Summary: A Partial Differential Equation Approach
        to Modeling Simple Extension in Elastomers
        H.T. Banks and Nancy Lybeck   205


Summary: A Universally Observable Flow
        on the Two-Dimensional Torus
        Alisa DeStefano and G.R. Hall   209


Summary: On Accurate Computation of a Class
        of Linear Functionals
        Sven-Ake Gustafson and Antonio R. da Silva  213


Summary: Sharp Trace Regularity for the Solutions
        of the Equations of Dynamic Elasticity
        Mary Ann Horn  217


Summary: Weak Attractor for Damped Abstract Nonlinear
        Hyperbolic Systems
        Gabriella A. Pinter   221


Summary: A Computational Study of the Representation Problem
        for Flow Control
        Diana Rubio   225


Summary: Local Controllability of a Nonlinear Shallow
        Spherical Shell
        M.E. Bradley   229

Summary: Muscle Mechanics and Dynamics of Ocular Motion
        Clyde F. Martin and Lawrence Schovanec   233


Summary: Spectral Element Approximations and
        Infinite Domains
        Kelly Black   237


Summary: Observability on Noncompact Symmetric Spaces
        Joseph A. Wolf   241


Summary: A Control Theoretic Model of the Muscular
        Actions in Human Head-Eye Coordination
        Magnus Egerstedt and Clyde Martin   245


Summary: Hysteresis Modeling in Magnetostrictive
        Materials via Preisach Operators
        R.C. Smith   249


Summary: Numerical Stationary Solutions
        for a Viscous Burgers' Equation
        J. Burns, A. Balogh, D.S. Gilliam, and V.I. Shubov   253


Summary: A Time Domain Formulation for Identification
        in Electromagnetic Dispersion
        H.T. Banks, M.W. Buksas, and Yun Wang   257

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Hans Schneider


          ContentsDirect From Elsevier Science
          =====================================


Journal Code   : 7738
Journal        : Linear Algebra and Its Applications
Volume issue   : 274/01-03
Year           : 1998
Anticipated Publication Date: 18-MAR-98

pp. 1-16
Inequalities For The Q-Permanent II
AK Lal

pp. 17-26
The number of regular semisimple classes of special linear and unitary groups
P Fleischmann

pp. 27-36
An inequality for the Spectral Radius of an interval matrix
MAUHSIANG Shih

pp. 37-59
Similarity classes for nilpotent operators over dedekind domains
GD Appleby

pp. 61-76
On an estimate of the eigenvalues for an infinite-dimensional matrix and its
application to the problem of the completeness of an eigenvector system of a
completely continuous operator
V Strauss

pp. 77-83
Sur l'image et la noyau d'une derivation generalisie
A Seddick

pp. 85-124
Generalized inversion of block Toeplitz matrices
VM Adukov

pp. 125-160
Classification of hereditary matrices
Agler, JW Helton

pp. 161-191
Generalized Algebraic Structures for the Representation of Discrete Systems
THOMASL Moeller

pp. 193-210
The inertia of certain Hermitian block matrices
CM Da Fonseca

pp. 211-237
Parallelizable approximate solvers for recursions arising in preconditioning
Y Shapira

pp. 239-257
On a class of multi-parameter perturbations of positive-definite operators with
fixed bounds of spectrum
SM Malamud

pp. 259-300
Canonical form of symplectic matrix pencils
A Ferrante

pp. 301-315
Multiplicity of solutions of second order linear differential equations on
networks
JA Lubary

pp. 317-365
The discrete algebraic Riccati equation and linear matrix inequality
AA Stoorvogel

pp. 367-388
Recursive properties of Toeplitz and Hurwitz matrices
MARILENA Barnabei

pp. 389-410
On geometric properties of the numerical range
MT Chien

pp. 411-426
On a problem of Lewin
J Shen


Please note that only one author is given for each paper.



              ******************************************
              *                                        *
              *              Conferences               *
              *                                        *
              ******************************************

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: J. Suykens


 Second call for papers

 International Workshop on

  ***  ADVANCED BLACK-BOX TECHNIQUES FOR NONLINEAR MODELING:
       THEORY AND APPLICATIONS                                ***

 with  !!!  TIME-SERIES PREDICTION COMPETITION !!!

 Date:            July 8-10, 1998
 Place:           Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
 On-line Info:    http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/sista/workshop/

 Organized at the Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT-SISTA) and the
 Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Networks (ICNN) in the framework of the
 project KIT and the Belgian Interuniversity Attraction Pole IUAP P4/02.
 In cooperation with the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society.


 * GENERAL SCOPE

   The rapid growth of the field of neural networks, fuzzy systems
   and wavelets is offering a variety of new techniques for modeling
   of nonlinear systems in the broad sense. These topics have been
   investigated from differents points of view including statistics,
   identification and control theory, approximation theory, signal
   processing, nonlinear dynamics, information theory, physics and
   optimization theory among others. The aim of this workshop is to serve
   as an interdisciplinary forum for bringing together specialists in these
   research disciplines. Issues related to the fundamental theory as well
   as real-life applications will be addressed at the workshop.


 * TIME-SERIES PREDICTION COMPETITION

   Within the framework of this workshop a time-series prediction
   competition will be held. The results of the competition will be
   announced during the workshop, where the winner will be awarded.
   Participants in the competition are asked to submit their predicted
   data together with a short description and references of the
   methods used. In order to stimulate wide participation in the
   competition, attendance of the workshop is not mandatory but
   is of course encouraged. All information about this contest is available
   at http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/sista/workshop/ .


 * INVITED SPEAKERS (confirmed)

   L. Feldkamp (Ford Research, USA)     -  Extended Kalman filtering
   C. Micchelli (IBM T.J. Watson, USA)  -  Density estimation
   U. Parlitz (Gottingen, Germany)      -  Nonlinear time-series analysis
   J. Sjoberg (Goeteborg, Sweden)       -  Nonlinear system identification
   S. Tan (Beijing, China)              -  Wavelet-based system modeling
   V. Vapnik (AT&T Labs-Research, USA)  -  Support vector method of function
                                           estimation
   M. Vidyasagar (Bangalore, India)     -  Statistical learning theory
   V. Wertz (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) -  Fuzzy modeling

   A workshop book containing the invited talks will be published by Kluwer
   and will be available at the workshop.


 * TOPICS include but are not limited to

   Nonlinear system identification     Backpropagation
   Time series analysis                Learning and nonlinear optimization
   Multilayer perceptrons              Recursive algorithms
   Radial basis function networks      Extended Kalman filtering
   Fuzzy modelling                     Embedding dimension
   Wavelets                            Subspace methods
   Piecewise linear models             Identifiability
   Mixture of experts                  Model selection and validation
   Universal approximation             Simulated annealing
   Recurrent networks                  Genetic algorithms
   Regularization                      Forecasting
   Bayesian estimation                 Frequency domain identification
   Density estimation                  Classification
   Information geometry                Real-life applications
   Generalization                      Software


 * REGISTRATION

   Registration fee: 6500 BF for IEEE members and students, and
   7500 BF for others (1 US Dollar is approximately 37.5 BF).
   It includes the workshop book, proceedings, lunches, dinners,
   refreshments/coffee. For registration form and payment, see
   http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/sista/workshop/ .


 * HOTEL INFORMATION

   A block of rooms has been reserved at Begijnhof Congreshotel,
   New Damshire, Holiday Inn and Ibis. For more information in order
   to contact the hotels, see http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/sista/workshop/.


 * IMPORTANT DATES

       Deadline paper submission:    April   2, 1998
       Notification of acceptance:   May     4, 1998
       Workshop:                     July 8-10, 1998

   Time-series competition:

       Deadline data submission:     March  20, 1998


 * Chairman:

       Johan Suykens
       Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
       Departement Elektrotechniek - ESAT/SISTA
       Kardinaal Mercierlaan 94
       B-3001 Leuven (Heverlee), Belgium
       Tel: 32/16/32 18 02
       Fax: 32/16/32 19 70
       Email: Johan.Suykens@esat.kuleuven.ac.be

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Keith Mason

                     CALL FOR PAPERS

           INFORMATION, DECISION AND CONTROL 99
                   Adelaide, Australia
                  8 - 10 February 1999


               http://idc99.cssip.edu.au    (online now)
               http://www.IDC99.gmu.edu     (soon - USA mirror site)


IDC-99 will bring together scientists, engineers and mathematicians
working across the disciplines of signal processing and communications,
decision and control, and data and information fusion. Progress in
these disciplines is critical to the successful implementation of large
interconnected and distributed systems such as military C3I systems,
communication networks, distributed sensor networks, and large scale
distributed control systems.

IDC-99 is structured along the lines of similar multi-conferences held
over recent years around the world. It is planned to provide a
technically strong symposia for each of the three core disciplines, and
in addition there will be significant opportunity for overlap and
interaction between the various groups.

The IDC-99 Organising Committee invites researchers and practitioners
in academia, industry and government to submit extended abstracts of
papers for one or more of the three symposia of IDC-99 as detailed
below. Acceptance for presentation in oral and poster sessions will be
based on review by the program committee. All submissions will be
reviewed on their originality, relevance, significance and clarity.
Only presented papers and posters will be published in the IDC-99
Proceedings.

See the web page for full details of topics, program committee etc.
Extended Abstracts for reviewing are due on June 30, 1998

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Rich Gerber

                           CALL FOR PAPERS
              The 19th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium
                            Madrid, Spain
                          December 2-4, 1998

    Sponsored by The IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on
                          Real-Time Systems


                       SCOPE OF THE CONFERENCE

RTSS '98 brings together a diverse body of researchers and developers,
to advance the science and practice of real-time and embedded systems.
All papers on real-time, embedded or reactive systems are welcome,
including (but not limited to) the following topics:

   * Real-time and embedded operating systems.
   * Systems design and analysis: theories, methods and tools.
   * Scheduling techniques: CPUs, devices, networks, end-to-end.
   * Programming languages for real-time and embedded systems.
   * Specification, verification and automated analysis.
   * Middleware and APIs for real-time and embedded systems.
   * Performance evaluation: theory, analysis and tool support.
   * Domain-specific architectures for embedded systems.
   * Instrumentation, profiling, testing and debug support.
   * Support for COTS-based integrated systems.
   * Fault-tolerance, reliability and safety.
   * Program analysis and tools.
   * Object-oriented languages: designs, programs, interfaces.
   * Real-time and reactive databases and file systems.
   * Computer networks and communications.
   * Signal processing, control and robotics.
   * Digital video, audio, animation and multimedia.

Papers on these or other relevant topics are solicited for RTSS '98.
Of particular interest are case-study reports on experimental results,
from any core application area in real-time, embedded and/or reactive
systems.


                        SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Papers should describe original research (i.e., not published elsewhere),
and should not exceed 20 double-spaced pages.  All accepted submissions
will appear in the proceedings published by IEEE, with the committee
recommending a selection of the best papers for publication in a journal.

If possible, submissions should be made electronically, either in
postscript or PDF format. Additional details on submission guidelines
will be posted at the RTSS'98 Home Page:

               http://www.cs.umd.edu/~rich/rtss98/

Electronic submissions are preferred; however postal submissions will
be accepted for review, provided they arrive by the Submission Deadline
of May 1, 1998. All authors taking this option should mail eight (8)
copies of their submitted papers to the Program Chair:

     Richard Gerber                       Email: rich@cs.umd.edu
     Department of Computer Science         URL: www.cs.umd.edu/~rich
     University of Maryland               Phone: +1-301-405-2710
     College Park, MD  20742 USA            Fax: +1-301-405-6707


                           IMPORTANT DATES

       * May 1, 1998 -- Deadline for paper submissions
       * July 25, 1998 -- Notification of acceptance
       * September 1, 1998 -- Final paper due
       * December 2-4, 1998 -- RTSS '98, Madrid, Spain


*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Dorothe Normand-Cyrot, 

Colloquium :     "PERSPECTIVES IN CONTROL"
                " THEORY & APPLICATIONS"
                 a tribute to Ioan Dore LANDAU
                ( SECOND  ANNOUNCEMENT )

Date  :          JUNE 29-30, 1998

Location  :      CNRS, 3 RUE MICHEL ANGE
                 75794  PARIS, CEDEX 16

 Organized by   :       GDR-AUTOMATIQUE"
                NATIONAL  FEDERATIVE RESEARCH GROUP IN CONTROL THEORY
                 http://www.ec-nantes/F_Serveur/IRCyN/Recherche/GDR/

Objectives :    The GdR-Automatique is organizing a colloquium oriented to the
Perspectives in Control, from both Theoretical and Applied points of view.
Your participation is expected. During this two days meeting (29 and 30 of
June 1998), around twenty plenary invited lectures will be presented by leading
scientists  from all over the world. To solicit their opinion on the Perspectives
in Control both in Theoretical and Applied Areas, place will be done to a general
round table discussion with contributed participation.

This meeting will be also the occasion to celebrate the sixtieth birthday of
I.D.Landau who, apart from his leading scientific activities, created and was
in charge of several national and european structures which greatly contribute
to the development and promotion of research in Control Theory.

The invited speakers are chosen among the scientists, students and post doc who
marked the professional life of I.D.Landau and in many occasions collaborate with
him, his group and the french community.

Book Edition :  All presented invited  papers will be included in a volume edited by
SPRINGER VERLAG made available to registered participants at the beginning of the
conference.

Participation & Registration :   The fees include the two lunches, welcome cocktail
and the  book. It would be a great help if you contact
Nicole.Labaronne@lan.ec-nantes.frcould for planning purposes and to be sure that you
will receive further information about this colloquium.

Fee schedule:
        Research University  1200FF
        Industry        1800FF
        Students        1000FF

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by Gerald Hearns   gerald@icu.strath.ac.uk

    HOT MILL CONTROL AND TECHNOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE
                       September 13th-18th, 1998

The Industrial Control Centre and the Advanced Control Technology (ACT) Club are
proud to announce the launch of their new International Training Course on Hot Mill
Control and Technology in September (13th-18th), 1998. The course is intended to
introduce rolling mill engineers to control engineering, particularly where it
relates to product quality and throughput improvements. The course covers a one
week period and begins with an introduction to rolling mill operations and the
models which are needed to understand them. Methods of simulating such systems to
analyse performance, for training and for management information systems will also
be described. The main focus of the course is on control engineering, starting with
the required background theory. The emphasis is then on the different control systems
on the mill, both on typical current plants and on new developments.

The major control loops on hot strip mills are analysed, such as the strip thickness
and flatness controls. Both regulating loops and supervisory controls will be
considered, and the potential of advances in condition monitoring systems and fault
tolerant/reliable control are described. Most currently prevailing control loops are
of a classical type: a combination of basic PID-feedback, feedforward, cascade loops
and logic. The potential benefits of using modern, multivariable or robust control
will be discussed, although for this course the aim is to introduce the central ideas
of more advanced control intuitively.

Many leading international companies in metals processing contribute substantially
to the course. They will introduce new equipment-based technology as well as new
software tools that simplify performance analysis and improvement.

The main target audience for the course are electrical and mechanical engineers
working in steel and aluminium mills, and those in companies and other organisations
supplying control systems or training to the metals processing industry. The course
is also relevant to design engineers wishing to refresh their control engineering
knowledge, and managers who require an up-to-date overview of quality improving
technology. For inquires please contact Mr Drew Smith (Tel +44 (0)141-5482378).

Training Course Location: The University of Strathclyde

Further Information: If you wish to receive a course brochure with booking details
then either send an email with your postal address to:

                     e-mail: hotmill@icu.strath.ac.uk

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by Emmanuel Fernandez (emmanuel@sie.arizona.edu)


                      CALL FOR PAPERS

        THE 38th IEEE CONFERENCE ON DECISION AND CONTROL

    Crowne Plaza Hotel, 100 N. 1st Street, Phoenix, Arizona

                   December 5-10, 1999



CALL FOR CONTRIBUTED PAPERS AND INVITED SESSIONS

The IEEE CDC will include both contributed and invited sessions, and full
Proceedings will be published. Contributed papers are solicited in all
aspects of the theory and applications of systems, including
decision-making, control, adaptation, optimization, industrial automation,
and manufacturing. Invited sessions are also solicited in new developments
in these and related areas. All submissions are due 1 MARCH 1999.

CONTRIBUTED PAPERS: The Program Committee is soliciting both Regular and
Short contributed papers for presentation at the conference and
publication in the Proceedings. Regular papers describe completed work in
some detail. Short papers describe important recent or preliminary results
that require limited length. Short papers may be submitted for review as a
4-6 page detailed summary, with references.

INVITED SESSIONS: The Program Committee is soliciting proposals for
invited sessions. Cohesive sessions focusing on new or emerging topics in
the above-listed areas are particularly encouraged, and will have priority
over those of a classical or mainstream flavor. Session organizers should
submit five (5) copies of proposals for invited sessions for review to the
Program Vice-Chair for Invited Sessions, Kevin M. Passino of the Ohio
State University (e-mail: passino@ee.eng.ohio-state.edu). All invited
session proposals must be accompanied by information for all the proposed
papers and mailed together as a group. Organizers must contact the
Vice-Chair for Invited Sessions by 1 FEBRUARY 1999 stating their intent to
submit a proposal and the accompanying papers.

Proposals for invited sessions should contain the names, affiliations, and
complete mailing addresses of the session organizer(s), chairperson,
co-chairperson, and all authors (with corresponding authors identified)
along with a list of paper titles. The organizers must include in the
proposal: (1) a clear statement of the topic and purpose of the session
and (2) a description of how the papers form a cohesive, well-integrated
exploration of the session topic. Detailed extended summaries, following
the submission guidelines below and consisting of a minimum of 2000 words,
covering all contributions of the paper in sufficient depth to permit an
informed review, must be included for each paper. The initial paper may be
a tutorial or survey that can be allotted twice the usual time for
presentation. The usual number of papers in a session is six.  Organizers
will be contacted near 1 June 1999 concerning the tentative disposition of
their session.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND ACCEPTANCE INFORMATION

Five copies are required for each submitted regular paper, short paper
extended summary, or invited session paper extended summary, and each
submission must be accompanied by the Manuscript Submission Form (MSF).
Addresses,  deadlines, and other submission requirements are given on that
form. A procedure for submitting manuscripts electronically is being
developed. Instructions for electronic submission, and the MSF, will be
posted on the CDC99 web site by October 1998.

Final selection of papers and invited sessions will be announced in July
1999. Authors of all accepted papers will be provided instructions for
preparation of manuscripts for the Proceedings. Authors should limit their
manuscripts to six Proceedings pages (approx. 6000 words) for regular
papers or two proceeding pages (approx. 2000 words) for short papers.
There will be a mandatory page charge for each additional page.
Manuscripts must arrive at the Printer by 16 AUGUST 1999. Authors of
accepted papers are expected to attend the CDC to present their work.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by:  Yuri L. Sachkov (sachkov@sys.botik.ru)

                             FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT

                           International Workshop

                DIFFERENTIAL INCLUSIONS AND CONTROL (DIC-98)

             September, 7 - 10, 1998 Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia


 Program and Organizing Committees' Address:
               152140, Russia, Pereslavl-Zalessky, m.Botik,
               Control Processes Research Center of
               Program Systems Institute of
               Russian Academy of Sciences
               tel: +7 (08535) -98234 (w), --98210 (w), --98175 (h),
               fax: +7 (08535)-98210 E-mail: dic@psi.botik.ru

                              CALL FOR PAPERS:

Prospective authors should submit two copies of the abstract of their paper
to NOC by April 1, 1998.The length of the abstract should be about two
typed pages. The cover page should contain:title, author's name,
affiliation and address, fax-number, e-mail address, telephone number.In
the case of joint authorship, the first name mentioned will be used for all
correspondence, unless otherwise requested. At the same time the Latex file
of the paper have to be submitted to NOC by e-mail (E-mail:
dic@psi.botik.ru).

                                 DEADLINES:

                     Submission of abstracts 01.04.98
                     Notification of acceptance 01.06.98
                     Submission of full papers 01.08.98


Conference Venue: The workshop will be held at the base of PSI and
University of Pereslavl in the Center of Pereslavl-Zalessky
city. Pereslavl-Zalessky is one of the ancient cities in Russia and
situated 130 km away from Moscow.

Conference Language: The working language of the workshop is English.

Scope: This event will be held on September, 7-10, 1998. The objective of
this workshop is to provide an international forum for the discussion of
recent developments and advances in the fields of differential inclusions
and control problems.

General topics:

The topics of the regular session will include

-Properties of DI (differential inclusions) generated by CS (control
systems)
- Integral properties of DI and controllability
- Viability theory and input allowances
- Unbounded DI
- Presentations of DI and CS with generalized solutions
- Optimization algorithms based on reachable sets descriptions
- Control of DI trajectories and uncertainty dynamics
- Applied problems related to DI and CS theory
- Reachable sets estimation algorithms
- Numerical methods in DI theory.

Registration Fee: Registration fee is $US 175. It covers cultural program,
official reception, coffee-breaks, abstracts preprint and should be paid
under the registration. Other living expenses (hotel, meal and banquet) are
not covered by registration fee and should be paid by participants
themselves and will approximately be:

- $US 25-35 for hotel per day,
- $US 35-45 for meal per day.

152140, Russia, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Yaroslavl region, m.Botik, Program
Systems Institute of RAS, Control Processes Research Center, Organizing
Committee of DIC, E-mail: dic@psi.botik.ru

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by:B. Wayne Bequette 


                  1998 AMERICAN CONTROL CONFERENCE
                      In cooperation with IFAC

                 The Adam's Mark Hotel, Philadelphia
                          June 24-26, 1998

                  http://www.rpi.edu/~bequeb/ACC98

INVITATION

On behalf of the American Automatic Control Council (AACC), the
Program and Operating Committees invite you to participate in
the 1998 American Control Conference (ACC). The AACC, an
affiliation of control and systems engineers from eight
professional societies, is the United States National Member
Organization to IFAC, the International Federation of Automatic
Control. IFAC also serves as a cooperating organization for the
ACC.

The 1998 ACC will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on
June 24-26 at the Adam's Mark Hotel. Workshops will be held on
Monday and Tuesday, June 22 and 23, before the conference, and
on Saturday, June 27, after the conference.  To learn more about
the conference, please visit the conference web site at

          http://www.rpi.edu/~bequeb/ACC98/

The conference registration form and hotel reservation form are
available at the ACC'98 web site. Deadline for advance
registration is May 8, 1998.  Hotel reservation request received
after May 26, 1998 will be accepted subject to availability.
There are only 515 rooms in the hotel. Please make your
reservations early.

The 1998 ACC sponsors a Best Student Paper Competition. In
addition, Quanser Consulting Inc. is also sponsoring a student
control design competition for a Ball and Beam experiment.
Details about the competition and registration can be obtained
at the Quanser web site:  http://www.quanser.com/acc98/

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Jan C. Willems


                          INVITATION TO ATTEND
                             CALL for PAPERS


                        PERSPECTIVES IN CONTROL

                     A Scientific Conference in Honor of

                              ROGER W. BROCKETT

                             Harvard University
                    on the Occasion of his 60-th Birthday


                          October 23 and 24, 1998
                          Cambridge, Massachusetts


                              Keynote address

                        R.E. KALMAN (ETH, Z/"urich)

                         RANDOMNESS AND PROBABILITY:
                    The hype, the truth, and the future


The following former Ph.D. students and post-docs of R.W. Brockett have
accepted to give a presentation:

                J.D. Baras (University of Maryland)
                A.M. Bloch (University of Michigan)
                C.I. Byrnes (Washington University)
                J.J. Clark (McGill University)
                P.E. Crouch (Arizona State University)
                D. Dobkin (Princeton University)
                L. Faybusovich (University of Notre Dame)
                P.A. Fuhrmann (Ben Gurion University)
                R. Hirschorn (Queen's University)
                J. Ja Ja (University of Maryland)
                V. Jurdjevic (University of Toronto)
                A.J. Krener (University of California, Davis)
                P.S. Krishnaprasad (University of Maryland)
                J. Loncaric (NASA)
                D. Montana (BBN)
                F.C. Park (Seoul National University)
                D. Seto (Carnegie Mellon University)
                S. Smith (Lincoln Laboratory)
                H.J. Sussmann (Rutgers University)
                T. Taylor (Arizona State University)
                D. Williamson (Australian National University)
                A.S. Willsky (MIT)
                W.S. Wong (Chinese University of Hong Kong)


The conference will close with a formal dinner on October 24, 1998.
Professor S.K. Mitter from MIT will give a Laudatio at the dinner in
honor of R.W. Brockett

Organizers:

       J. Baillieul         and              J.C. Willems
  College of Engineering                Department of Mathematics
    Boston University                   University of Groningen
  Boston, MA 02215,  USA                     The Netherlands
   Fax:    617-353-5866                    Fax: +31 50 3633976
Email: Brockettfest@enga.bu.edu       Email: Brockettfest@math.rug.nl


If you wish to attend the conference please inform one of the organizers by
electronic mail. There is room for contributed talks. Prospective
contributors are invited to submit a 200 word abstract by electronic mail
to one of the organizers as soon as possible. Deadline: May 1, 1998.

    Details on the program and hotel information can be found on internet
               http://eng.bu.edu/Brockettfest


*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by:  Daniel Miller and Li Qiu


                  Workshop on
           RECENT ADVANCES IN CONTROL

              The Fields Institute
             University of Toronto
                 Toronto, Canada
                 June 29-30, 1998



On June 29 and 30, 1998 we will be holding a workshop in
honor of Prof. E.J. Davison's 60th birthday. We have
enlisted a number of speakers, including J. Ackermann,
B. R. Barmish, T. Basar, S. T. Bortoff, T. N. Chang,
J. C. Doyle, B. A. Francis, W. Gesing, A. Goldenberg,
C. V. Hollot, R. Kwong, U. Ozguner, V. Quintana,
B. Scherzinger, A. Solomon, R. Tempo, S. H. Wang,
and W.M. Wonham. The workshop will consist of two
days of technical sessions with a reception on
the evening of June 29.  The topics will cover a
wide spectrum of systems and control, reflecting the
interests of the speakers.

We welcome members of the control community to
attend the workshop.  The registration fee is yet to
be determined but will be at most 50$ (Can).
In the near future we intend to have the program
finalized and placed on the web-site

    http://www.fields.utoronto.ca

Alternatively, you can contact the two organizers at

    miller@hobbes.uwaterloo.ca
    eeqiu@ee.ust.hk

Last of all, a few words about Toronto.  The city has
a population of 2.3M and is served by an international
airport.  It is ethnically diverse, with more than 80
ethnic communities. The university is situated near
the down-town core and is close to shopping and night-life.
Detailed information ca be found at

    http://www.math.utoronto.ca/toronto/

Since July 1 is Canada Day, a national holiday, if
you attend the workshop you may wish to stay a bit
longer to help us celebrate!

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Paul P.Wang 

Call for Papers
Second International Workshop on INTELLIGENT CONTROL
[ONE OF EIGHT TRACKS UNDER JCIS'98]Oct.23-28,1998
Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center,RTP,N.C.,USA

Santa Fe Institute,the nerve center of a think tank consisting
of prominent scientists,has identified complexity,adaptation,and
upheavals at the edge of chaos. NSF and other US research agencies
are pushing for learning,adaptive,intelligence ,knowledge and
distributed information.Indeed,a very exciting period of dynamic
systems research is ahead of us! The task of designing intelligent
control systems must be looked at from the systems integrating
point of view.

The4 evolution of classical and modern control has brought many
challenges for control engineers in solving the peocessing problems
of intelligent and complex systems.The emergence of the powerful
computational intelligence tools of fuzzy logic,neural networks,
AI,genetic algorithms and pattern recognition;all biologically
inspired;have matured enough during the past decade for control
engineers to begin to think about the architecture,functioning and
basic characteristics of an intelligent control system!This workshop
recognizes an urgently needed forum for public discussion and debate
of these important issues.

The keynote and plenary speakers include:
Panos J.Antsaklis ,John Baillieul ,Stephen Grossberg ,Yu Chi Ho ,
Lotfi A.Zadeh ,Julius T.Tou ,Jim Albus,...Please refer to:

    http://www.ee.duke.edu/JCIS98

for more complete listings and general information!The deadline for
both summaries and session proposals is June 1,1998.The paper
acceptance notifications will be sent by Aug.1 ,1998.Full length
papers can be reviewed for possible inclusion in various special
issues of INFORMATION SCIENCE JOURNAL,due Oct.28,1998.

Partial listing of typical topics:soft modeling of intelligent
& complex systems;performance measurements;definition of machine
intelligence;fuzzy constraint networks;world modeling & knowledge
bases;multiple spatial & temporal granularization;heuristic &
combinatorial search;learning adaptation & self-organization;logic
systems & inferences;long term & short term memory.sensors,transducers
& data fusion;computing with words;fault diagnosis of control
systems;hybrid control;chaos control;brain-like controllers;.....

Proposals & summaries submission and further information:

                     Professor Paul P.Wang
                     Box 90291,Duke University
                     Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
                     Science Drive,Hudson Hall
                     Durham,N.C.27708-0291,USA

e-mail: ppw@ee.duke.edu ,voice:919-660-5252 or 5259 ,fax: 919-660-5293

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Giorgio Picci 


   MATHEMATICAL THEORY OF NETWORKS AND SYSTEMS - MTNS98
                     University of Padua
                Padova, Italy, July 6-10,1998


MTNS98 will be held at the School of Engineering, University
of Padua, Padova, Italy, from July 6 to 10, 1998.

We are happy to announce that the program of MTNS98 has
been almost finalized. The preliminary program, symposium
information and a downloadable registration form will be
visible on our home page:


     http://www.unipd.it/esterni/wwwmtns/mtns98.html


About 520 papers have been accepted for presentation. There
will be 120 technical sessions plus a number of special
invited talks, minicourses and minisymposia which will be
described below.

For questions about CONTRIBUTED PAPERS, please contact:
Dr. Alessandro BEGHI
Department of Electronics and Informatics
University of Padua
via Gradenigo 6/a - 35131 Padova, ITALY
Fax: +39(49)827-7699
email: mtns98cb@dei.unipd.it

For questions about INVITED SESSIONS, please contact:
Prof. Sandro ZAMPIERI
Department of Electronics and Informatics
University of Padua
via Gradenigo 6/a - 35131 Padova, ITALY
Fax: +39(49)827-7699
email: mtns98iv@dei.unipd.it

For general questions please contact:
Prof. Giorgio PICCI
MTNS98 Symposium Chair
Fax: +39(49)827-7826
email: mtns98@dei.unipd.it


PROCEEDINGS
YES, there will be proceedings of MTNS98. All papers presented at
the conference and submitted for publication will be reviewed
for possible inclusion in the proceedings of MTNS98. The final
hard copy version of the papers is DUE AT THE CONFERENCE.
Plenary, Special Topic, Minisymposia and Minicourse lectures will
be published in a hardcover volume in the Birkhauser series
"Progress in Systems and Control Theory". A copy of the volume
will be mailed to all registered participants.
Please browse the Web page for information on the style and
format of the manuscripts.

REGISTRATION:
Early registration (before May 15, 1998)  fee is  550.000 It Liras.
Regular registration (after May 15 and on-site) is 650.000 It Liras.
Please look at the web page for a downloadable registration form.

STUDENT SUPPORT
Special low price lodging and meal tickets will be available
for students. We are considering partial reimbursement of the
registration fee for students. This however will depend on
availability of funds and, ultimately, on the number of attendees
and will have to be decided at the last moment.
Students are invited to pay the regular registration fee for the
time being. Students WHO NEED SUPPORT, are invited to qualify
themseves on the registration form writing the word "STUDENT"
immediately after their last name. Certification of student status
will be asked at the registration desk upon arrival.

CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT
For details on the registration fee, bank transfer, credit card
payment, travel and hotel reservation, social program, please
contact directly the conference secretariat at the address:
    SISTEMA CONGRESSI
    via Jappelli, 12 - 35121 Padova, ITALY
    Phone: +39(49)-651699
    Fax:   +39(49)-651320
    email: mtns98rg@protec.it

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: pmisra@cs.wright.edu (Pradeep Misra):

     TRAVEL SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS ATTENDING 1998 ACC, PHILADELPHIA, PA

Thanks to the National Science Foundation (NSF), USA, the 1998 American
Control Conference anticipates travel funds for students registered in US
universities for attending the conference. These funds (subject to the
approval of NSF) will be used to partially offset the cost incurred by the
student attendees. The criteria and procedure for applying for travel funds
will appear on the 1998 ACC web page (http://www.rpi.edu/~bequeb/ACC98/) in
next few days. Please check the web site periodically for further details
and deadlines or contact the address below:

Pradeep Misra
RC-311, Electrical Engineering        pmisra@cs.wright.edu
Wright State University                   p.misra@ieee.org
3640 Col. Glenn Hwy.                   TEL: (937) 775-5062
Dayton, OH 45435-0001      USA         FAX: (937) 775-5009

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
Contributed by: Joanna King  


CONTRIBUTED BY THE INSTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS CONTROL DIVISION


  INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION AND CONTROL: APPLICATIONS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
  Colloquium organised by PG B5 (Industrial automation and control)

  9.45am on Thursday, 23 April 1998 at
  COVENTRY UNIVERSITY,
  FOLLOWED BY A TOUR OF JAGUAR CARS ASSEMBLY PLANT, BROWNS LANE, COVENTRY


OBJECTIVES:

Automobile manufacturers world-wide are currently engaged in research and
development in order to maintain a competitive edge and this Colloquium
consists of presentations that highlight practical applications of control
to automotive systems.  The event should be of value to anyone interested in
the enhancement of vehicle performance via the application of computer
control to automotive systems.  It should also interest control
specialists/applications engineers across a wide range of industrial
sectors.

For further details and registration please contact; Control Division, IEE,
 Savoy Place, London, WC2R OBL, Tel:  0171 344 5417, Fax:  0171 497 3633,
Email:  jking@iee.org.uk

Joanna King - Computing and Control Division
Institution of Electrical Engineers,Savoy Place,LONDON,WC2R 0BL
Email:  JKing@iee.org.uk
Telephone:  +44 (0)171 344 5417
Fax:  +44 (0)171 497 3633
World Wide Web:  http://www.iee.org.uk


              ******************************************
              *                                        *
              *               THE END                  *
              *                                        *
              ******************************************