Conference News

CONFERENCE NEWS
NOLTA 2008 at Budapest
The 2008 International Symposium on Nonlinear Theory and its Applications (NOLTA2008) was held very successfully from 7-10 September at Danubius Health Spa Resort Helia, Budapest, Hungary, and I was lucky enough to be one of the attendees. I believe no one would disagree that the Spa Resort was a fantastic venue, overlooking the romantic Danube river, the magnificent Buda Hills and the beautiful Margaret Island. Of course, the Spa Resort was not only a venue to hold the conference, but also a place where attendees and their family members could enjoy themselves. For example, many attendees and their family members relaxed themselves in the spa, in which the natural thermal water came from springs on the nearby Margaret Island. After taking the "spa", some of them went even further, taking advantage of the Resort facilities and services, and attended "yoga" classes to fully relax ourselves. What an experience!
Returning to the presentation sessions, the attendees became more serious. This year, the technical program committee of NOLTA had put together a program with over 190 high-quality presentations, including 77 special session papers. There were also three very well-attended, exciting and interesting plenary talks. The first talk was given by Prof. Leon Chua (University of California, Berkeley) on "Memristor", which was a subject of a paper written by Prof. Chua back in 1971. But it was not until recently that memristors can be implemented in very large scale using CMOS technology. Besides explaining the basic principles of memristors, Prof. Chua highlighted the potential impact of memristors such as "instant-on" computers and mimicking of neurons. (Actually, Prof. Chua gave the talk via a video link while he himself was physically at Berkeley. I was really amazed that Prof. Chua was able to give such an elaborate presentation, providing every detail of his work.) The second plenary talk, given by Prof. Yoshiyasu Takefuji (Keio University) was about "power harvesting mat" and "transverse wave speaker". I was really interested in the "power harvesting mat". I thought, "If I could install one in my apartment, I could definitely lower my electricity bill because my kids like jumping on the floor, with or without my approval!" The last, but definitely not the least, plenary talk was about "complex networks" and the speaker was Prof. Chi K. Tse (Hong Kong Polytechnic University). In particular, Prof. Tse highlighted some of his recent work on applications of complex networks, including disease spreading, telephone-call models, stocks correlation and even musical-notes relationships! Of course, I was not in Budapest only to attend the technical sessions. Like other attendees, I visited some landmarks in Budapest during my free times. The Buda Castle, selected as a world heritage in 1987, is a must-visit sightseeing spot. Other places that worth visiting include the Parliament, Fishermen's Bastion, Chain Bridge, National Museum, ... Probably, the organizers knew that I had been to many of the local restaurants in the city centre of Budapest. That was why they held the banquet at Borkatakomba Restaurant, a restaurant quite a distance away from the city centre. The Borkatakomba Restaurant distinguished from other restaurants in that it was originally a wine cellar. Inside the restaurant (or cellar), there were "dining rooms" made from large original barrels. These "dining rooms", though big, were too small for us — a group of nearly 200 participants. Indeed, we were arranged to dine in two medieval-atmosphere cellar halls carved in limestone. Everyone was attracted by the limestone walls and the decorations. What followed was flashing of lights from digital cameras. I needed to take some pictures too because this was my first time dining a limestone "cave". I must leave myself some good memories! After some short speeches, dinner was served, together with entertainment — beautiful Hungarian music by a live band, cheerful Hungarian folkdance ... Some of us were also invited to the stage to dance with the beautiful dancers. Unfortunately, I had not been selected. I was really upset. Maybe next time, I should just volunteer myself! Before the main course was to be served, two participants were invited to cook in front of us. "Fire! fire!" shouted both of them as fire was coming out from the saucepans. "They must be novice cooks," I though. At long last, they finished cooking. I was really suspicious when the food they cooked ended up on everyone's dish. I hesitantly tasted the food — and it was delicious! While I enjoyed all the yummy food and the performances, time flew (like an F-16) and it was already time to leave. Just before leaving the restaurant, on a rack, I saw a bottle of red wine with a picture of me and a pretty dancer stuck on it. Good memory! Grabbed it — and also left 11 euros. In summary, NOLTA2008 was a great success— venue, plenary talks, technical program and banquet. But the conference could not have been so successful without the diligent work of the organizers, and the full participation and support of the attendees. Next year, NOLTA will be held in Sapporo, Japan. Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido and Japan's fifth largest city, is well known for its ramen and beer. In the vicinity of Sapporo, there are also many famous hot springs. I am not sure about you, but certainly I could not wait to visit Sapporo. Until NOLTA2009, see you and sayonara (goodbye in Japanese)
Francis Lau, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong (Email: encmlau@polyu.edu.hk)