Foreword

Following the success of the first African School and Workshop on X-rays in Materials, held in Dakar, in December 2005, we are organizing the second edition of the school-workshop.

Aims

The second conference aims at:

• Promoting the scientific cooperation between African researchers in the materials science area;
• Introducing the principal techniques of structural investigation of materials using X-rays, with particular attention to X-ray diffraction from powders and X-ray scattering from non-crystalline materials;
• Training young researchers on new investigation techniques of the materials structure, by means of practical exercises of X-ray data analysis on computer;
• Presenting the actual research advances on materials characterization using X-ray techniques.

Topics

• Radiation
• Matter interaction;
• Radiation sources;
• X-ray Scattering;
• Powder Diffraction;
• Rietveld method;
• Applications of XRD to Materials Science;
• Other techniques: X-ray Diffusion; X-ray absorption and photoemission spectroscopies and their applications to Materials Science.

Format

Besides the School program, participants will be given the opportunity to hold oral presentations as well as to contribute to a poster session. Special care will be taken to ensure time for questions and discussions, as well as to organize round tables on topics which will share a particular interest for the participants. The Conference will finish with a conclusive discussion amongst all attendees.

Participation

Scientists and students from African Countries that are members of the UN, UNESCO and IAEA can attend the School and Workshop. The official language of the School is English. Travel and subsistence expenses of the participants are borne by the home institutions. However, limited funds are available for some participants from the developing countries, who will be selected by the organizers on the basis of their curriculum vitae et studiorum. Such financial support is available only for those who attend the entire activity.

Invitation

Dear Colleagues:
We cordially invite you to join the joint conference of the Asian Crystallographic Association (AsCA) and the Crystallographic Society of Japan (CrSJ) in Tsukuba, Japan, from November 20th to 23rd, 2006.  This conference is the seventh conference counting from the inaugural conference in Singapore in 1992 and follows the highly successful AsCA’04 conference in Hong Kong. It includes all aspects of materials science related to crystallography, such as nano and biological materials, and encompasses X-ray and neutron scattering/diffraction, electron microscopy, XAFS, NMR and so on. Crystal growth studies are also welcomed at the conference.
Tsukuba, in the shadow of Mt. Tsukuba, is located about 50km northeast of Tokyo and about 40km northwest of the New Tokyo International Airport in Narita. Tsukuba, formerly farming land, was established as a science city about 35 years ago, and following the International Exposition of Science and Technology (Tsukuba EXPO ’85) became well known not just in Japan, but internationally. It has grown to become an international-level research center, with 2 universities and more than 40 research laboratories. A new rail link from Akihabara (Tokyo) to Tsukuba (45 minutes) will open in summer 2005.Â
We look forward to meeting you at AsCA’06/CrSJ, which will provide you with an outstanding variety of multi-disciplinary science and a great forum to interact with international colleagues in vibrant environment.
Professor Kazumasa Ohsumi
Chairman

An Acknowledgment

The organizing Committee of SAS2006 Kyoto is honored to have hosted the thirteenth International Conference of Small-angle Scattering in Japan. It goes without saying that the key to success of this conference lies with you, the participants, over five hundred of whom came from over 35 countries, to report extremely high quality SAS based research.Â

We, the organizers, very much enjoyed hearing the theme of “Small Angle Scattering” being thundered across the conference rooms in our Kyoto International Conference Hall, like beautiful, exciting reverberations from the roll of a Japanese “Wadaiko” drum at the Banquet. We are especially pleased to have had the opportunity to bring speakers and participants of contrasting fields from the physical sciences, materials sciences, and biological sciences, together in the same conference rooms to discuss their work, with SAS as the important, unifying key word. Hopefully we share a common impression with you, that the SAS field is gaining greater significance in science and technology and in its contributions to the culture of this century.

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the international advisory board members, the institutional sponsors, and the industrial sponsors for helping us to organize this conference. We hope you have enjoyed your stay with us and wish you a safe journey home. We hope to see you again at the SAS2009 Oxford.Â

Chair of Organizing Committee, Takeji Hashimoto

IXS2007

6th International Conference on Inelastic X-ray Scattering

Scope

IXS2007 will cover a wide range of topics in the field of inelastic x-ray scattering, including electronic resonant and non-resonant scattering, meV-resolved atomic dynamics, nuclear resonant methods, and Compton scattering. Theoretical calculations will also be addressed. The conference will deepen our understanding of inelastic x-ray scattering, a set of techniques that have demonstrated their great potential to contribute to condensed matter physics, geophysics, chemistry and bio-physics.
The conference is intended to provide a forum for presenting new research and exchanging ideas about scientific applications and technical developments. It will promote scientific collaboration combining the different techniques. Presentations will consist of plenary, invited, and contributed talks, and a poster session, all scheduled so as to provide ample time for discussion.

Venue

The conference venue is the Awaji Yumebutai International Conference Center on Awaji Island. It is located 30 minutes from Kobe and 90 minutes from Kansai International Airport (KIX) by bus, via Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world.

Organization

• Chair : H. Kawata (PF/KEK)
• Host : JASRI/SPring-8, JAEA/SPring-8, RIKEN/SPring-8, PF/KEK

OBJECTIVE

• To encourage young scientists and researchers in Indonesia especially from out of Java to have a basic knowledge on neutron and X-ray scattering in materials science and biology research.
• To provide collaboration opportunities among research and development institutions, universities, and industries in the field of materials science and biology at national, regional as well as in international level.
• To increase the quality of research and development in materials science and biology especially in advanced materials, catalyst, biotechnology and molecular biology, medicine and medical science, pharmaceutical, polymers, colloids and others in Indonesia as well as regional countries.
• To build strong user groups of neutron and X-ray scattering from the local and regional scientists and researchers.
• To promote and then to establish neutron scattering facility in Serpong as a center of excellent in supporting materials science and biology research in national, regional as well as in international level

SCOPE

The conference will be discussing and covering various topics in the field of materials science and engineering, metallurgy, solid state chemistry and physics, polymers, soft condensed matter, biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, medical science, as well as pharmacy in association with neutron and X-ray scattering techniques. It also widely covers other topics such as instrument development and computer modeling or simulation in crystal and macromolecule structures for scientific and industrial applications.

Electron Microscopy and Multiscale Modeling

Moscow, 3-7 September, 2007
This interdisciplinary meeting aims to bring together experts from several areas of modern crystallography and materials science and will focus on the link between methods of direct visualisation of structures at nano- and meso-scale based on electron microscopy and diffraction, and the rapidly expanding field of multiscale materials modelling. Electron microscopy and diffraction, together with other diffraction and high spatial resolution techniques, underpin the development and characterisation of new materials for nanoscience and nanotechnology, sustainable development and advanced power generation.
Electron microscopy and diffraction has been a traditionally strong area of international collaboration, while predictive multiscale modelling is a relatively new discipline that has already made a strong impact on the development of new materials and applications. Large-scale ab-initio density functional methods, mesoscale techniques, molecular and dislocation dynamics, and investigation of defects and phase transformations in materials, combined with image simulations and methods of quantitative interpretation of diffraction patterns and high-resolution spectra advance materials science in the area that has direct bearing on modern technology.
The meeting will be held from 3-7 September in the Institute of crystallography of Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.

The topics of the meeting include:

• Methods and techniques for direct visualisation and electron diffraction imaging of structures at nano-, meso- and macro-scale, application of these methods to the investigation of dynamical processes in materials in the bulk and at surfaces of materials, the structure and dynamical properties of defects, and high-resolution spectroscopy techniques;
• Density functional and related ab-initio approaches to modelling bulk and surface structures, and quantitative interpretation of electron diffraction patterns, high resolution electron energy loss spectra, as well as information obtained using other quantitative methods for the determination of structure and electron charge density;
• The structure and dynamics of defects, dislocations and grain boundaries, methods of direct imaging of defects, dislocations and grain boundaries, as well as other diffraction and related techniques, for example X-ray and neutron diffraction, and surface tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy;
• Methods based on in-situ mechanical deformation, and other techniques for in-situ modification of properties of materials, combined with modelling methods and approaches to the quantitative interpretation of in-situ observations;
• Applications of the above techniques to practical problems in materials science particularly related to advanced power generation, combating climate change, and security of energy supply.