CIGR Newsletter No 64

CIGR C o - S p o n s o r e d A c t i v i t i e s

32nd International Symposium
"Actual Tasks on Agricultural Engineering"

This symposium will be held from 23 to 27 February 2004, in Opatija, Croatia. Symposia of this series have been organised for over 30 years now and gained a lot of international standing due to sustained co-sponsoring by CIGR, EurAgEng, and AAAE.

The Symposium intends to present the latest scientific results on all aspects of research, design and development in the various disciplines of agricultural engineering.

The main topics to be covered are:

·   Automation & emerging technologies

·   Animal production technology

·   Information technology

·   Precision agriculture

·   Post-harvest technology

·   Power & machinery

·   Rural development & communication

·   Structures & environment

·   Soil and water

The registration fee of 100 € (80 € for members of CIGR, EurAgEng, AAAE or AESEE) covers proceedings and farewell banquet. Only papers of authors paying the registration fees will be published in the conference proceedings.

The official languages of the symposium will be English and Croatian.

Important Dates and Deadlines:

Submission of full paper:                                    15 December 2003
Registration deadline:                                         10 January  2004

For further information please check http://www.agr.hr/aed/aed_symposium.htm or contact Prof. Silvio Kosutic, Faculty of Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering Department, Svetosimunska 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Tel.:  +385 1 2393819, Fax:  +385 1 2315300 or +385 1 2393724, E-mail: skosutic@agr.hr


AIA'2004: 5th International Workshop on
Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture

Co-sponsored by CIGR, this workshop will be held from 8 to 10 March 2004 in Cairo, Egypt. It is intended to attract individuals from academia and industry who will present new research results and applications of Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture and related domains (in particular, environmental sciences). As an important part of the workshop, the program will focus on new research challenges and ideas in the following areas:
1. Fundamental representation issues

·   Management of spatio/temporal knowledge (spatio/temporal reasoning, extension of GIS capabilities, reasoning across several levels of temporal or spatial granularity)
·   Management of uncertainty and imprecision (fuzzy logic, belief functions, Bayesian networks, qualitative reasoning)  
·   Modeling of Multi-agent systems (population modeling, distributed problem solving)

2. Tools, techniques, algorithms  

·   Use of emerging technologies (neural network, genetic algorithms, fuzzy control, constraint satisfaction, case-based reasoning)
·   Fusion of multiple sources of information (in particular for interpretation systems)
·   Rise of AI in simulation tools (discrete event systems, use of advanced representation capabilities, qualitative/quantitative simulation) 
·   Integration/combination of AI approaches with other approaches

3. Applications and practical issues  

·   Successful or novel AI decision support approaches for planning, scheduling, control, monitoring, prediction or diagnosis problems in agriculture and related domains
·   Commercialized and routinely used AI-based systems, in particular expert and knowledge-based systems (in laboratories, extension services, farms)
·   Critical analysis of project failures
·   Validation issues for AI-based decision support systems
·   Intelligent information systems, and web intelligence

Dates and Deadlines:

Notification of paper acceptance                   31 December 2003

Camera-ready manuscripts                            31 January 2004

For additional information look up http://www.claes.sci.eg/aia04/ or contact: Secretariat of the AIA'2004 Workshop, Dr. Soliman Edrees, The Central Lab. for Agricultural Expert System, El-Nour Street, P.O. Box 438, Dokki Giza, Egypt. Tel.: +20 2 7614727 Fax: +20 2 7617628. Email:soliman@claes.sci.eg


Energy Efficiency and Agricultural
Engineering 2004

This conference will be held at "Angel Kunchev" University of Rousse, Bulgaria, from 3 to 5 June 2004. The Conference is organized by the Bulgarian National Society of Agricultural Engineers, with the support of CIGR Section IV, EurAgEng Special Interest Group 23, the Union of Scientists, Rousse, and the Federation of the Scientific Technical Unions, Rousse. The main topics are:

 

The official languages of the Conference will be English and Russian.

For further information contact the Secretariat: Milena Popova, 8 Studentska str. "A.Kunchev" University of Rousse, Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Tel. 0035982-845536, 0035982-888 ext.665, 843, 442; Fax: 0035982-845 708; E-mail: mivanova@ecs.ru.acad.bg; mihailov@ru.acad.bg; vezirov@ru.acad.bg; http://octus.ru.acad.bg/baer/EE&AE-2004/conference.htm

ISCO 2004: 13th International Soil
Conservation Organization Conference

Organised by Australian Soil Science Society Inc. (ASSSI) and the International Erosion Control Association (IECA) and co-sponsored by CIGR-Section I, this conference will be held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre in Queensland, Australia from 4 to 9 July 2004.

ISCO 2004 is meant to provide an opportunity to share the solutions, knowledge and experience we have accumulated across the world and across our diverse backgrounds.

The program will be designed around three broad areas:

·  Science and information on the conservation of soil and water resources
·  Effective communication, learning and sharing environments
·  Examples and case studies of strategies that operate across social, environmental and political boundaries, empowering people and communities

It will include general and special sessions with oral papers and posters covering activities from research to facilitation, from modelling to measurement, from science to policy and practice which move us forward in meeting society's needs. It is expected that there will be an increased emphasis on the role of women in conservation, management and conservation of arid and semi-arid lands and on conservation in urban and other high intensity land management situations as well as the strong topics which have developed through recent ISCO meetings.

For further information check www.isco2004.org or contact the conference secretariat: ICMS (Qld) Pty Ltd, 82 Merivale Street, South Bank Queensland 4101, Australia. Tel. +61 7 38441138 Fax: +61 7 38440909. E-mail: isco2004@icms.com.au


“International Quality Grains Conference: A Global Symposium on Quality-Assured Grains and Oilseeds for the 21st Century”

This conference will be held from 19 to 22 July 2004 in the University Place Conference Center Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. The objectives of the conference are to present current research-based knowledge on:

1)  Measurement technologies to quantify agronomic, quality and end use traits of cereals and oilseeds,

2)  Best management practices to assure the identity/purity and integrity/quality of cereals and oilseeds during the production, harvest, handling, post-harvest, and processing operations, and

3)  Management approaches to meet customer needs for the identity preservation, certification, and tracking of cereals and oilseeds in the evolving global market place of differentiated products.

Participants and presenters will include the leading scientists, engineers, economists, and professionals from academia, government and the agricultural and food/feed industry involved in the production, handling and utilization of cereals and oilseeds, and the manufacturing of grain-based foods and feeds from throughout the world. Representatives from the agricultural and food/feed industry (including equipment, biotechnology and service suppliers; grain producers, handlers and processors; and food and feed manufacturers), producer organizations, certification agencies, grain inspection services, universities, research institutes, and international trade policy groups from throughout the world are invited to participate.

The need and timeliness of this conference exists because of the emergence of a global market place for differentiated products that requires the traditional commodity-based production, handling and processing industry to adopt new practices that will assure the purity and quality of cereals and oilseeds from seed to consumer. The importance of molecular biology in variety development has had a significant impact on the production, handling, marketing and delivery of cereals and oilseeds. Continuing expansion of markets for value added crops (developed through genetic engineering as well as traditional breeding) requires rapid purity and quality detection technologies, and development and adoption of best management practices and quality management systems that are practically achievable, economically viable and fully accepted in the global market place. This conference will present the newest research and knowledge that address these issues through keynote, oral and poster presentations, and special topic workshops. Commercial tabletop exhibits, and pre and post tours into the US Grain Belt will also be organized.

Important Dates and Deadlines:

Deadline for abstracts for posters/papers    30 October 2003

Deadline for advance registration           31 December 2003

Notification of acceptance                           31 January 2004

Submission of final written papers                31 March 2004

Final communication to conference delegates  31 May 2004

All papers will be published in the Conference Proceedings. All authors will be encouraged to address the conference theme of Quality-Assured Cereals and Oilseeds for the 21st Century.

Registration fees are $385/ $425 before/after 31 December 2003 and $450 at the conference. For students, they are $ 200 before and $235 after 31 December 2003; $250 on-site. The registration fee includes attendance at the scientific program, trade exhibition, refreshment breaks, and an e-copy of the conference proceedings. It does not include the pre and post tours.

For further information, contact: Dr Dirk E. Maier, Conference Coordinator, Post-Harvest Education & Research Center, Purdue University, 225 South University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2093, USA.

Phone: +1 765 4941175, Fax: +1 765 4961356. E-mail: iqgc2004@ecn.purdue.edu . The conference web site at http://www.iqgc.org/ contains more detailed information as well as forms for online abstract submission and registration.

 

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