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ECTN Association and ECTN Project

ECTN Association

Report of the Administrative Council meeting held on 20 September 2003 in Vienna, Austria.

1. A brief report of the Prague General Assembly (held on 26 April 2003) was presented. The minutes of this Assembly will be presented for approval at the next General Assembly to be held in Toulouse, France in April 2004.
2. The financial situation was reported (satisfactory!), and it was noted that the membership fee for 2004 would remain at 350 Euro, as decided by the General Assembly.
3. A publicity leaflet prepared by Tony Smith following initial work by Evangelia Varella, was discussed. A few minor amendments were made. The final version is given here (Publisher format / 117 Kb). All contact persons will be sent copies of this leaflet once it has been printed, and it will be distributed widely. A poster will also be prepared based on this leaflet.
4. The Chemistry Eurobachelor document has been submitted to the Federation of European Chemical Societies (FECS) for approval. The document will be discussed by the FECS at its general assembly in early October 2003. The aim is to progress towards a “Eurobachelor label” that the Association will award, with the support of FECS (and others), to those programmes that adhere to the Eurobachelor framework. The aim of this approval is: to give status to first cycle qualifications in chemistry; to help universities without previous experience of first cycle programmes; to promote transparency in degree courses; and to promote international mobility into second cycle courses.
5. It was reported that discussions between the Association and the Royal Society of Chemistry and FECS on the ways in which the chemical societies can provide support for the EChemTest will take place on 30 September 2003, with Richard Whewell representing the Association. The outcomes from this meeting will be reported to Association members as soon as possible.

ECTN Project

The ECTN Management Committee met in Vienna, Austria on 20 September 2003. The minutes of this meeting will be circulated to the contact persons of all network members. The main outcomes of this meeting are <reported here>.
  
Please note the dates of the next ECTN Plenary meeting : 24 ­ 18 April 2004 in Toulouse, France. Preliminary details of the meeting are provided in the management committee meeting report.
  
Please note that the new working group on Teacher/Teaching Evaluation by Students will take place on 31 October 2003 in Napoli, Italy. Please contact the working group leader, Leila Birolo, if you, or someone from your institution, wishes to participate.
The two other new working groups, Links with Schools (leader Ingo Eilks, Dortmund, DE) and Newly Appointed University Teaching Staff (leader Paul Yates, Keele, UK) will hold their first meetings early in 2004. Further information about these groups is available elsewhere in this newsletter. Please contact the working group leaders if you, or any member of your institution, is interested in participating in these groups.
  
Any ECTN members who have presented ECTN activities at any meeting or have disseminated information about ECTN in any other way, please inform Tony Smith as soon as possible ­ it is important to include all relevant activities in our final report.

Any ECTN members with outstanding claims for expenses in the period October 2002 to end of September 2003 MUST contact Tony Smith before 24 October 2003 otherwise your claim cannot be considered.

The next ECTN Management Committee meeting will be held on 31st January 2004, in Reading, UK.

EChemTest

As mentionned in the Dissemination section, I had the great pleasure to welcome Lam Ramba from the IUPAC Chemistry Education  Committee who attended my talk at the 39th IUPAC Conference in Ottawa.

Since Prague, please find below the updated situation.

The 6 English demo tests (General Chem 1&2, Analytical-Inorganic-Organic-Physical Chem 3) are now ready on-line, and before the end of 2003 the first Italian translated tests will be made accessible - the French version is also in progress. 
Also available on-line a demo test simulating the certification test at the Eurobachelor level in Chemistry. 28 questions, composed of 7 questions extracted by a random selection from the 4 demo Level 3 tests.

You will be  welcome to visit our Demo tests on-line. Connect the EChemTest webpages in English to "Access the Tests" from October 31, 2003 and leave your comments and suggestions until December 31, 2003 (..\..\..\echemtest\v\en\ect_en.htm).

Concerning the Certification Tests, we had some extra delays in achieving our databases :
- General Chem 1&2 in English - final version released (thanks to Kristiina Wähälä and Jorma Koskimies)
- Organic Chem 3 in English - achieved (thanks to Hans-Günther Schmalz and Janna Velder)
- Physical Chem 3 in English - almost achieved (thanks to Rodriguez Renuncio and Valentina Piermarini)
- Physical Chem 3 in Italian - almost achieved (thanks to Antonio Lagana and Valentina Piermarini)

The Analytical database is technically achieved, the English double checking is still in process. The Inorganic database is still under construction, more contributions will be highly appreciated. If you want to join the Inorganic working group, please contact David Cardin at <d.j.cardin@reading.ac.uk>.

Everything should normally be in operation, within the first 2004 semester. As a reminder, the certification tests will not be accessible free of charge, you will be requested to register first - Information on the location of future Testing centres will be made available on the EChemTest website.

Working Group Reports

Industrial Placement

<download the pdf document> (.pdf / 36 Kb)

Virtual reality, Web & Grid technologies for e-learning in Chemistry

A printed paperback edition was published by Antonio Lagana and Antonio Riganelli, both from Perugia (Italy), and edited in May 2003 by Morlacchi Editore, Italy (ISBN 88-88778-41-1). Find below 2 reports extracted from this book. Please contact the authors for more details.

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E-learning guidelines from the PROMETEUS project 

A. Riganelli, A. Laganà
European education ministers, through the Bologna declaration [1] followed by the conclusion of the Prague Meeting on May 19th 2001, affirmed the ir commitment to establish a European higher education area by 2010.
In a knowledge-based society, the explosive growth of economic and social factors (such as globalization and demographic changes) as well as the pressure coming from the labour market and the need for a continuous training of the workforce, make the European higher education system, universities in the first place, actively rethink its role and mission. 
Students who are going to enter the labour market need to access further education and training since technological changes continuously create new knowledge and make obsolete part of the existing one. 

>>> Read the full article <on-line> (html), or <download> the word document (.doc / 440 Kb)

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GEMS: a Grid based e-learning approach to molecular sciences

Pan-European Collaborative Work
One of the richest cultural patrimony of Europe is the extended know how in molecular sciences and its applications (this is associated with the leading position of Europe in Chemical industry because of historical and cultural reasons).
Progress in concurrent (Grid) computing technologies, in molecular virtual reality approaches, in problem solving environments, in hypertextual treatments of the knowledge base made available by the Information and Communication technologies (ICT) recent evolution of the IT is making it possible to design ubiquitous, full immersion, on line approach to Molecular sciences through the implementation of an ad hoc Metalaboratory.
The paper discusses a project aimed at designing a Grid based e-learning molecular science (GEMS) educational system having a particular focus on cultural heritage and related technologies. GEMS is meant to be a powerful ubiquitous open access multilingual European education initiative providing a more educated access to conservation and restoration of works of art.
The key idea of GEMS is the adoption of a Meta-laboratory (a set of geographically scattered laboratories grafted on a Grid to carry out collaborative activities) structure allowing modern cooperative way of learning the molecular science contents useful for conserving and restoring cultural heritage.

>>> Read the full article <on-line> (html), or <download> the word document (.doc / 450 Kb)

ECTN Dissemination

IUPAC 39th Congress, Ottawa QC, Canada August 10-15, 2003

All the conferences of the day were very interesting and often focusing on ways to increase the interest of chemistry for our students, pointing out why they continue, or not, the education in chemistry. There are significant differences between girls and boys - generally speaking we are missing students in chemistry, and the impact starts to be important for the academic world, research departments and industrial plants. 
A large audience attended the conference "EChemTest : A Solution to Certify your Knowledge in Chemistry", presenting briefly the ECTN purposes and projects, the EChemTest and some results and feedbacks of the tests. The questions were also targetting on the Core approach, the general overview of the tests results and feedbacks, as well as the risks concerning the use of our test-results for those working in the comptetitive industrial world. I also had the great pleasure to have Lam Ramba from the IUPAC Chemistry Education Committee attending my talk.
The next days session raised another well-known problem of the chemical industry and the chemistry in general : the Image of Chemistry ! - people's representation, the questions they have and the role of the media to disseminate a good or a bad image. The answers of the Industrial and Ministry representatives were really pointing out the problem and a lack of real communication, or maybe ... just a misunderstanding communication state !

TUMA Conference, Terni, Italy / September 10-12, 2004

The Umbrian section of the Italian Chemical Society jointly with the Department of Chemistry of the University of Perugia, the Regional and Communal Councils have organized in Terni (Italy) a Symposium on the scientific activity of Giulio Natta an Italian Nobel Laureate in Chemistry who first synthetized some linear stereospecific polymers using organometallic catalysts on his hundredth birthday.
The Symposium has been associated with the TUMA (Central Italy) Chemistry Conference.
Among the scientific contributions delivered by the Department of Chemistry of the University of Perugia an important role has been given to e-learning with a talk on the ChemVirtLab (the combined use of Human size and Molecular size Virtual Reality to offer Chemistry Laboratory practice sessions on the web to the students) and a talk on the ECTN project ECHEMTEST. During the talk I presented the activities of ECTN by focusing on e-learning and e-assessment initiatives. In this perspective some details of ECHEMTEST including some examples, the underlying teaching and learning strategy, the structure of the libraries, the extension of the cooperative efforts behind it were illustrated.
Despite the fact that mine was the last talk of the day there was a great deal of interest and questions. Several people offered their collaboration for the future. 

Conferences Announcement

Future Generation Computer Systems - Special Issue entitled "Computational Chemistry and Molecular Dynamics"

Note from the Editor :The information received end of July is published as it was, even if the october issue of the NewsLetter is edited too late to submit an article as the submission deadline is already over.

>>> Read <here> the announcement on-line.

18th ICCE, Istanbul, Turkey / August 3-8, 2004

IUPAC Conference on Chemical Education : 
18th International Conference on Chemical Education (18th ICCE), Istanbul, Turkey
Prof. Dr. Mustafa L. Berkem (Chairman), Prof. Hale Bayram (Secretary)
Marmara University, Ataturk Faculty of Education, TR- 81040 Goztepe-Istanbul, Turkey
E-mail: haleb@ttnet.net.tr or icce2004@marmara.edu.tr ; Tel: +90 2163459090/231 ; Fax: +90 2163388060 
<http://www.turchemsoc.org/icce/web/>

14th European Symposium on Fluorine Chemistry, Poznan, Poland / July 2004

Prof. Henryk Koroniak is the organizer of 14th European Symposium on Fluorine Chemistry to be held in July 2004 in Poznan, Poland. 
For further details please check the website : www.fluor2004.amu.edu.pl

ICSS&T 2004, International Conference on Supramolecular Science & Technology, Prague, Czech Republic / September 5-9, 2004

The International Conference on Supramolecular Science & Technology, will be held at ICT in Prague, Czech Republic on September 5-9, 2004. The thema of the 2004 edition, as a logical continuation of the IIIrd GCSN meeting in Argentina, will focus on : "Supramolecules : Design and Functionality on a Nanomolecular Scale".
Organized by the Czech Chemical Society, the Global Supramolecular Chemistry Network (GSCN), the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry AS CR and the Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague.

Deadline for abstract submission : May 1, 2004
For further details and registration, check the website URL : http://www.csch.cz/icss/icss2004.htm

Mailing address : Drasar Pavel
ICSS 2004, c/o VSCHT Praha
ustav 342, Technicka 5, 166 28 Praha 6, Czech Republic
E-mail : Pavel.Drasar@vscht.cz
Tel : (+420) 224 354 283 ; Fax : (+420) 224 310 090

XXII ICP 2004 - International Conference on Polyphenols, Helsinki, Finland / August 25-28, 2004 

The XXII International Conference on Polyphenols will be held in Helsinki, Finland, on August 25-28, 2004. 
The various topics will focused on PP and their interactions on Human Nutrition and Health, and on Animal Nutrition and Health, also on the Biosynthesis of PP, the Chemistry of PP, PP and environment, and PP and Skin care.
A young researchers forum will be organized during the meeting, by Cécile Cren-Olivé (France) and Tuija Jokela (Finland) : Email tuija.h.jokela@helsinki.fi

The abstract submission deadline is January 31, 2004
For more information and registration, check the website URL : www.helsinki.fi/icp2004
or email at : orgkm-icp2004@helsinki.fi.

17th Symposium on Chemical Education at the University of Dortmund, Germany / 3 - 5 June 2004

Quality in Practice-Oriented Research in Science Education 
First Announcement : download <DOC> (22 Kb) or <PDF> (78 Kb)

THE FIFTH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY (EUCO-CC5), Giens, FR / June 15-20, 2004

Subject: European Comp Chem List information

Dear Dr. MIMERO 
Dear Collegue, please find enclosed

First Announcement

THE FIFTH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY (EUCO-CC5) will be held in GIENS (on the Mediterranean coast, close to Toulon, FRANCE) from the 15th to the 20th June, 2004

This congress is the fifth in this series, after the similar ones held in Nancy, Lisboa, Budapest, and Assisi. The conference is organized by the Working Party on Computational Chemistry of the Federation of European Chemistry Societies (FECS). Local organization will be undertaken by the "Laboratoire de Physique Quantique" of P. Sabatier University, Toulouse (France). Additional information can be found on the web site : http://www.irsamc.ups-tlse.fr/EUCOCC5

The following topics will be covered during the conference: Quantum Chemistry, Spectroscopy, Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Molecular Dynamics and Kinetics, Molecular Modelling, Cheminformatics and Chemometrics, Bioinformatics

Composition of the Scientific Committee: Knut Faegri, Fernando Fernandes, Johann Gasteiger, Gerhard Klebe, Kari Laasonen, Antonio Lagana`, Richard Lavery (to be confirmed), Hans-Peter Luethi, Dominik Marx, Gabor Naray-Szabo, Mike Robb, Andrei Tchougreff, Kurt Varmuza, Manuel Yanez 

The conference program will include plenary lectures, a large number of contributed talks, and two poster sessions. If you wish to receive the next announcements for this conference, and for further information, please send an e-mail to eucocc5@irsamc.ups-tlse.fr
 
Looking forward to seeing you in Giens.
For the WPCC (Fernando FERNANDES),
For the Local Committee (Stefano EVANGELISTI)
-- 
Yours Sincerely 
Andrei L. Tchougreeff 
List Maintainer 

11th ISSP - International Symposium on Solubility Phenomena including Related Equilibrium Process, Aveiro, Portugal  / July 25-29, 2004

Contact address
Prof. Clara Magalhaes
Dept of Chemistry, University of Aveiro
P-3810-193 Aveiro, PT
Tel : (+351) 234 401518 ; Fax : (+351) 234 370084
E-mail : mclara@dq.ua.pt

In brief ...

Dual Language CDROMs for Lycees and Schools and Colleges

Here is a flyer describing a set of dual language CDROMs which has been produced primarily for Lycees in France. Analogous CDROMs could be produced by CVC/CDIEC in any other combination of languages and for any level
See www.unice.fr/cdiec/cdroms/le_bon_geste/le_bon_geste_uk.htm or 
download the <DOC> (79 Kb) or <PDF> (184 Kb) documents. 

Research Fellow, Nottingham Trent University - Closing date: 31st October 2003

Research Fellow 
School of Science, The Nottingham Trent University, NOTTINGHAM, UK

 £18,411-£22,950 pa 

Applications are invited for a three year postdoctoral research position, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, on the synthesis of hybrid organic/inorganic materials, metal complexes of organosulphur donors, and their electrical and magnetic properties.
The project is supervised by Prof. John Wallis and Dr Craig Matthews at Nottingham Trent University and will involve collaboration with Prof. Peter Day FRS in the Davy-Faraday Laboratory, at the Royal Institution, London. The School of Science has strong interdisciplinary research activity in Materials. The successful applicant will have a PhD in synthetic materials chemistry or a related discipline.
Further details and application forms are available from Personnel Services, The Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham NG1 4BU, by telephoning (+ 44 115) 8486522. 
Please quote Post Ref No: SO161.Closing date: 31st October 2003. 
For an electronic application please contact kim.marshall@ntu.ac.uk .
Informal enquiries can be addressed to: john.wallis@ntu.ac.uk or craig.matthews@ntu.ac.uk
(Office Tel: (+44 115) 848 3137 ; Lab Tel: (+ 44 115) 848 3318)
We are actively implementing equality of opportunity policies and seek people who share our commitment.

Vienna Pictures 

Soon available from <here>, few pictures from Vienna, after a long day work, the administrative council enjoyed a live-evening in a famous Gasthaus. Thanks again to Johannes and his team for organizing this meeting. 

What's coming next ?

• December 2003
- Tuning II - Intermediate report (Terry Mitchell, Dortmund DE),
- Evaluation of Chemistry - Intermediate report (Pascal Mimero, Lyon FR)
- Chemistry and Cultural Heritage - Report (Evangelia Varella, Thessaloniki GR)
• February 2004
- Image of Chemistry (Hans-Günther Schmalz, Köln DE), 
- Food Chemistry (Ivonne Delgadillo, Aveiro PT), 
- Remediation (Milt Karayannis, Ioannina GR)
• April 2004
- Teacher / Teaching Evaluation (Leila Birolo, Naples IT)
- Biological Chemistry (Arne van der Gene, Leiden NL)
- Newly Appointed Teaching Staff (Paul Yates, Keele UK)
• June 2004

- Links with Schools (Ingo Eilks, Dortmund DE)
- Tuning II - Final report (Terry Mitchell, Dortmund DE)
- Evaluation of Chemistry (Pascal Mimero, Lyon FR)