Seminars, Workshops and Conferences
16-24 August 2004: The Internet Education and Research Laboratory (intERLab) is conducting hands-on Internet network operation center training for fifteen network engineers from Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand. The workshop is a joint activity by intERLab and the WIDE Project (Japan) as a collaboration under the Asia Broadband Human Resource Development. Funding support for the workshop is by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, MPHPT, Japan.
The class is broadcast by the School of Internet (SOI/ASIA) using the Internet over satellite links to eleven sites in seven countries in real-time.
Students in these fourteen sites can participate in the classroom through web board as well as real-time interactive Q&A.;
31 August 2004: Applications of Fly Ash: From Cement Replacement to Aerospace Composites by Dr. Dhanada K. Mishra
Director of Research and Consulting, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology will be held at 11.00 - 12.00hrs. in Room E-206.
Abstract
Fly Ash is a by-product of the combustion of pulverised coal. It is collected at coal powered thermal
power plants by electro-static precipitator from the flu gases. It was estimated that 600 million tonnes of
fly ash would have been produced world wide in year 2000, most of which would have ended up in land-fills polluting the environment. Fly ash is classed as a pozzolan with the potential to react with calcium and moisture to form calcium-silicate hydrate and othercementitious compounds. The pozzolanicity of fly ash varies from source to source depending on the chemical composition (class F or class C), particle size distribution, level of impurity (Loss of Ignition) etc. Its low cost (mainly stemming from additional processing cost at the source and the transport cost), abundant availability, pozzolanicproperties and proven benefits in terms of enhanced durability of concrete has resulted in the recent research being mainly focused in theincreased use of fly ash in concrete. Use of fly ash (either as a replacement of Portland cement or as an additive), is on the increase in the building and construction industry worldwide. The pioneering work of V. M. Malhotra in Canada in recent years in high volume fly ash cement concrete has demonstrated the potential for extensive use of fly ash in concrete in the future.
Alkali activated cements have been actively researched in the countries of former Soviet Union as part of the need to find a way to deal with the massive problems associated with disposal of industrial
by-productssuch as fly ash and slag. The work of Krivenko and Glukhovsky in Ukraine has resulted in
many significant structural and non-structural applications (e.g., coatings, repairs, thermal resistance, lightweight construction etc.) of such concrete materials based on non-Portland cement binders.
Recently Davidovits has studied the alkali activated cements family of materials in a different context and
has discovered what is essentially an extended family of materials that he has termed 'Geo-polymers' or
'Inorganic Polymers'. Geopolymers are composed of molecular chains similar to organic polymers
except that the monomers in this case are composed of 'Al', 'Si' and 'O' ions. It is claimed that in the
alkali activated cement system, the introduction of Ca ions creates mixed geopolymer phases with
calcium silicate hydrates. Depending on the Al:Si ratio available in the feedstock and a whole host of
other variables, geopolymer materials can range from the low-tech fly ash based alkali activated concrete
to the high-tech carbon fiber reinforced composites developed by Davidovits and Balaguru for
aerospace applications.
Fly ash being a rich source of Al and Si, presents a great opportunities for the future. On the one hand
as a major environmental problem, it needs a viable disposal option, while on the other its use can
potentially reap rich dividend.
About Speaker
Dhanada K. Mishra has a Ph. D. in Civil Engineering Materials from University of Michigan. He has worked for the Research and Consulting Division of ACC in investigation of Concrete structures and for Rocla Technology in Australia as the Manager of Product
Development. He has recently relocated back to his native state of Orissa in his new role as the Dean of Research and Professor of Civil Engineering at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (Deemed University). His current interests are in fly ash utilization, geopolymer concrete, engineered cement composites, entrepreneurship development and
innovative teaching. He can be contacted at e-mail:
dkmishra@kiit.org
2 September 2004: Guest Lecture on 'Dynamic Routing and Wavelength Assignment and Band Switching in WDM Networks' by Dr. Poompat Saengudomlert, Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The lecture will be held at 1:30 p.m.-2:30 in Room TC 203, Telecommunications Building. Interested persons are most welcome.
Abstract :
We study the routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) problem in optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks with no wavelength conversion. In a core network, we expect that traffic can be separated into two components. The first is the aggregated traffic from a large number of small-rate users and is approximately static. The second contains sessions from a small number of large-rate users and is not static due to insufficient aggregation. We support these traffic components by static and dynamic RWA. The talk focuses on dynamic RWA algorithms for several special topologies and the changing traffic defined based on the number of tunable transmitters/receivers at each access node. Our algorithms incur a small number of light path rearrangements for each new session. We observe that, the number of rearrangements is related to the wavelength reuse factor, i.e., the number of light paths on the same wavelength. We also explore how to switch traffic in bands of wavelengths instead of in individual wavelengths in a star topology. We observe that band switching with uniform band sizes has the potential to substantially reduce switching costs at the price of small additional transmission capacities.
Biography:
Dr. Poompat Saengudomlert received the King Scholarship from Thailand in 1991. Through its financial supports, he earned the bachelor degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 1996. He then obtained the MIT Fellowship for his graduate study in electrical engineering and computer science, leading to the master and the Ph.D. degrees from MIT in 1998 and 2002 respectively. His research interests are in communication theory, data networks, and resource allocation problems. For the Ph.D. thesis, he proposes several analytically tractable algorithms for dynamic routing and wavelength assignments in optical WDM networks. Prior to returning to Thailand, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems at MIT. In addition to the study of band switching in WDM networks, his recent works explore hybrid optical and electronic signal processing for beamforming with wideband antenna arrays.
23-24 September 2004: DANIDA-AIT Workshop on Human Resource Development in Integrated Land and Water Resource Management
Abstract
AIT in cooperation with the Danish International Development Assistance (Danida), is organizing
a workshop on Human Resource Development in Integrated Land and Water Resources Management.
The workshop -- to be held at AIT Conference Center -- aims to explore the skills and knowledge needs in the broader area of water and land management in the region.
The expected outputs of the workshop are:
- Better understanding of the development needs of the region particularly related to water and land management
- Development of direct linkages for AIT's involvement with Danida funded projects/programs in the region
- Development of joint collaborative activitives on capacity building in the region
Each participant is expected to present a summary of his/her program/project activities during the workshop. The presentations would include the need of capacity building in land & water management.
Interested persons may contact:
DANIDA-AIT Office
Asian Institute of Technology
P.O.Box-4, Klong Luang
Pathumthani 12120
Thailand
Tel: +662 524 5569
Fax: +662 524 5223
E-mail: danida@ait.ac.th
1-3 December 2004: Second International Symposium on Southeast Asian Water Environment will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam. The Symposium is organized by the Asian Institute of Technology branch in Vietnam (AITVN) and The University of Tokyo (UT), in cooperation with Southeast Asian Center on Water Environment Technology (SACWET), a joint center of UT and AIT. The Symposium is sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan through Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology.
The Symposium aims to provide a forum for discussion and exchange among researchers/practitioners in Environmental Technology and Management and related areas from the Asian Region and to promote interaction among researchers from Asia-Pacific countries, Japan, the United States, Europe and other parts of the world. Through the Symposium, participants will hopefully find a strong network or partnership with active local change agents will be established, and our colleagues in Southeast Asia will learn more from the experts of other countries to protect the environment of the region.
Focus of the Symposium
The Symposium is focused on the following topics:
- Conservation of natural aquatic ecosystems
- Symbiosis with agriculture and aquaculture
- Industrial/agricultural development and water management
- Threats to ground water
- Environmental infrastructure management
- Urban development and coastal zone management
- Social aspects
Call for papers and deadlines
Manuscripts for oral and poster presentations should be prepared according to the format specified at: http://www.env.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/project/asian_water/home.html