ECTN_NLv4n5_Dec2003

Issue #5 !!! great, sounds like a well-known perfume ;-)
Well, issue #5 is also the signal of the end of the year ! Last February we announced 2003 as the year of EChemTest. And with a "slight" delay ... we finally reached the first step of our goal, the first demos are in operation on-line for the first beta-test period. Now I'm pleased to introduce in this issue, a very interesting report on "Chemistry And Cultural Heritage" including several contributions presented at the Thessaloniki meeting <Read>, also published is the intermediate report concerning the "Tuning II" activities <Read>.

Since October, there as been some important feedback to the ECTN <Read> the abstract about the EuroBachelor in Chemistry and the FECS. Also, a few Announcements/updates of International Conferences <Read>. In addition in this issue you will find some updated information about the ECTN NewsLetter and basic guidelines for publication.

Several issues ago, I started a presentation of URLs and links for Handheld users, I compile in this issue, an updated list of URLs giving access to various electronic timetables for those who are frequently travelling in the sky <Read>.

Well, I have talked enough, let me tell you the following as in less than one months time, 2 very important events will occur ...

News flash

EChemTest Inorganic Chemistry Working Group : 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>.

IMPORTANT : ECTN NewsLetter Editor / EChemtTest Email information
Due to spamming problems and a huge quantity of indesiderable emails, please take note that some changes will occur with my email addresses :
- pascal.mimero@wanadoo.fr will be totally discontinued and replaced by pmimero @ wanadoo.fr on December 18, 2003
- both Mimero @EChemTest.net/.org emails will be temporarily discontinued from December 18, 2003 till January 5, 2004.
I apologize for any inconvenience, and hope to read you soon.
Thank you for your understanding.
Pascal Mimero

STOP PRESS
Terry Mitchell, University of Dortmund - Germany (received November 22, 2003)

Another Boost for the Eurobachelor?
Bonn, Germany, Nov. 21st 2003-11-22
The first subject-based conference in the Bologna series next year is planned for 2004, the subject being: CHEMISTRY!
The conference is to be held in Dresden, the beautiful "Florence on the Elbe", and will be supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education. The organisation will be in the hands of Prof. Reiner Salzer from the TU Dresden, the latest candidate for admission to ECTN and the Association.

ECTN Association and ECTN Project

Anthony Smith, ESCPE Lyon - France

ECTN Association

The Chemistry Eurobachelor document was endorsed by the Federation of European Chemical Societies (FECS) at its general assembly held in Barcelona on 2-3 October 2003. The meeting was the largest ever gathering of Presidents of chemical societies in Europe. Participants included 48 Presidents or other representatives from 35 chemical societies and professional institutions in 25 countries, together with representatives of other European and international organisations, under the Chairmanship of the FECS President, Professor Gabor Naray-Szabo of the Hungarian Chemical Society. The Eurobachelor document was presented to the participants by Richard Whewell. The FECS also recommended that member societies should give support in their respective countries to the emerging Eurobachelor qualification. This is a great step forward for the ECTN and the Eurobachelor, and we look forward to working together with the national chemical societies to promoting chemistry in Europe.

The publicity leaflet for the ECTN Association has now been printed and all members will receive copies in the next two weeks. Any reader of the newsletter who would like to receive a copy or copies of the leaflet should contact Tony Smith.
We warmly welcome the following new members of the Association :

Nottingham Trent University, UK
Tartu University, EE
Dresden University, DE

The next meeting of the Administrative Council will take place on 31 January 2004, in Reading, UK. Would members please send items for discussion to Tony Smith before 15 January 2004.

ECTN Plenary Meeting

The ECTN Plenary meeting will take place on 24 – 18 April 2004 in Toulouse, France. The web site for this meeting is

www.ectn.info

On this site you will find the provisional timetable of the meeting (to be finalised at the ECTN Management Committee meeting on 31st January 2004), financial arrangements, registration and accommodation forms and other information. You are requested to complete these forms as soon as possible to help us with the planning of the meeting. This is a very important meeting for the network. It is one of the opportunities you have to contribute to the activities of all the working groups, and to propose future activities for the network. This meeting will also be the occasion when you will be asked to approve the final version of the Eurobachelor document. Following approval of the document the ECTN Association will proceed with an approval scheme for chemistry programmes throughout Europe.
I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at this meeting.

ECTN Projects

The working group on Teacher/Teaching Evaluation by Students took place on 31 October 2003 in Napoli, Italy. The group addressed the following questions:

Is it useful to have an evaluation by students?
When and how should the evaluation be carried out?
Is there any common procedure to be followed?
Which are the most opportune questions to be addressed in the coming months for this working group?

A very brief report of the meeting is provided <here> (.pdf 32 Kb)

The new working group, Links with Schools (leader Ingo Eilks, Dortmund, DE) will meet in Dortmund, Germany on 28 February 2004. See last months newsletter for details about the proposed activities of this group and contact Ingo Eilks if you are interested in participating. The Newly Appointed University Teaching Staff (leader Paul Yates, Keele, UK) will also hold their first meeting early in 2004.

VERY IMPORTANT REMINDER:
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.

The next ECTN Management Committee meeting will be held on 31st January 2004, in Reading, UK. Any members who have suggestions for items for the agenda, please send them to Tony Smith as soon as possible. Please note that the re-application for the period October 2004 to September 2005 will be discussed at this meeting, so suggestions for future activities will be particularly welcomed.

I end this section of the newsletter by sending you all
my very best wishes for Christmas and for a successful and peaceful New Year 2004.

EChemTest

Pascal Mimero, ESCPE Lyon - France

Several items of information reported this month, but the most important one is the Demo on-line of course !

>>>>> Here we go !
As promised, since the end of October, the full set of Demo Tests in English (General Chemistry 1&2 and Analytical, Inorganic, Organic, Physical Chemistry 3) are available on-line, and will be accessible till December 31, 2003 as a first beta-test period.

Wanna access it ?
Go to the EChemTest webpage in English, then follow the link "Access the Test". Then you'll have the choice to access directly each individual test from the selection table. In addition to the general access, each ECTN/EChemTest working group member received an individual account (Login/Password) early November.

End of the Public Demo Beta-Test period
In the February 2004 issue of the NewsLetter, I will give you the feedback of the first on-line period. All comments and suggestions will be analyzed and updated versions will be published in English. Then we will be able to update the translated Demo versions and publish them on-line too. The first languages that will be ready for publication are French, Italian and Spanish. Other languages will then follow.

Demo Beta-Test for Universities worldwide
If some universities are willing to setup a trial Demo session with a classroom, to get an idea about the test level regarding his/her own public, please contact me. We will then fix the regulations and consider the technical and organizational aspects.

Certification Database
The beta-test period of the Certification Database will start early 2004 with the ECTN/EChemTest working groups only, prior to any offical public release. More information will come later on that specific point.

Analytical Chemistry
The Analytical Chemistry Group has done a lot of work to achieve the Certification Database, and it is almost done by now. In the mean time, the Demo test was re-worked and informative feedbacks were added.

Inorganic Chemistry
We need to develop this working group. New volonteers / members will be very welcome.
Please contact David Cardin at d.j.cardin@reading.ac.uk for any further details.

EChemTest website
The welcome page was improved last month, and the test-description pages were re-laid out ; English and French are available in the new format. Thanks to Valentina, Italian is already published and Spanish will be soon updated.

Working Group Reports

Tuning II - Report meeting, Athens, 5th-9th November 2003

Terry Mitchell, University of Dortmund- Germany (Received November 22, 2003)

It was cool and windy in Athens when we arrived, but the weather did not worry us much as we spent almost all our daylight hours indoors. Thanks to the good deal made by the organisers (75% price reduction!) the delegates lived in a comfortable hotel, the meeting itself being held at the Athens business university in downtown Athens.
As usual, the Management Committee, on which Tony Smith and I represent Chemistry, met the day before and the day after the main two-day meeting, to prepare things and hold a post-mortem.
The chemistry group was as always very productive. Within the scope of the agenda set by the Tuning coordinators Julia Gonzalez and Robert Wagenaar, we discussed a number of topics. These included:

The present situation regarding Bachelor/Master degrees in the countries represented

Final definitions of generic and subject-specific competences to be gained in cycles 1 and 2 (the cycle 1 generic competences will be added as an appendix to the EuroBachelor proposal, as we felt they are highly relevant to the topic of employability)

A survey of where chemistry graduates go after graduation from the appropriate cycles

A survey of student workload involved in lectures and practical lab. Courses

A discussion on how we teach and assess various generic and subject-specific competences

The contribution of Tuning to quality enhancement

Anyone who wishes to have a copy of the draft of the minutes for this meeting is asked to contact me by e-mail.
The final meeting of Tuning II will be held in Brussels at the end of May 2004, but ECTN will have a Tuning session in Toulouse prior to that at the end of April 2004.
Terry Mitchell
mitchell@chemie.uni-dortmund.de

Chemistry and Cultural Heritage

Minutes of the Meeting held in Thessaloniki (GR) on September 12-13, 2003

Evangelia Varella, University of Thessaloniki - Greece (Received November 13, 2003)

The Working Group On Chemistry And Cultural Heritage, European Chemistry Thematic Network, met in Thessaloniki on October 12th and 13th, 2003. The member Universities were represented as follows: Johannes Froehlich, Vienna University of Technology, AT; Mariano Fajardo, Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, ES; Catherine Vieillescazes *, University of Avignon, F; Evangelia Varella *, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR; Giovanni Rizzo, University of Palermo, IT; Arne van der Gen *, University of Leiden, NL; Daniel Vella, Malta Centre for Restoration, MT; Tomasz Lojewski *, University of Krakow, PL. Christian Degrigny, Malta Centre for Restoration, attended the meeting using the satellite facilities existing between the two institutions in the framework of the IKONOS project. Evangelia Varella, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, coordinated the meeting.
The first main subject on the agenda read: Comparison And Evaluation Of Preservation Methodologies. (...)
At a second phase, the possibilities of establishing Joint European Courses On (...)
>>> Read on-line (html) the <Agenda>, the full <Minutes of the conference> and have a look on the meeting <Pictures Hall>.
>>> Download the <Programme and Abstracts> (.pdf 61 Kb), and the available full reports [*] directly from the Minutes page.

ECTN Dissemination

ECTN NewsLetter

Pascal Mimero, ESCPE Lyon - France

The ECTN NewsLetter, the bimonthly electronic bulletin of the ECTN Association is published 5 times per year (February, April, July, October, December). Some figures :
After the last update of the dissemination list, I'm pleased to announce that the NewsLetter is now reaching

400 addresses representing

250 institutions/universities/societies

from 44 countries worldwide - 75% of European countries (including Russia)

Subscription to the NewsLetter is free of charge, and all the addressees are eligible to contribute.
Our main goal is the publication of the ECTN activities, projects and reports of working groups. We also disseminate any information related to the Chemistry world, such as Conference announcements, Post-doctoral/Doctoral or Academic postion adverts, Multimedia material dedicated to Chemistry education, reports dealing with Professional/Industrial matters, information from other networks with whom ECTN may have - or not - connections.
The NewsLetter guide for authors will be available on-line from the ECTN NewsLetter webpages :

Submission deadline : 10 days before the begining of the month of edition (February, April, July, October, December).

Document size : up to one page length, the full text will be inserted in the NewsLetter ; over 1 page, a short abstract of the report is requested to be inserted in the News and a dynamic link will be created to open or download the full report.

Documents format : "Internet" (.htm), Acrobat (.pdf), Word (.rtf or .doc), PowerPoint (.ppt or .pps), Excel (.xls)

Pictures format (.gif or .jpg), low to medium resolution, size 640x480

Attention : source of pictures and screenshots must be provided, pictures must be copyright-free or accompanied by the authorization of publication on the Internet.

Any further details or information ? feel free to contact the Editor at : Mimero @ EChemTest.net .

Conferences Announcement

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/>

International Symposium on Advances in Synthetic, Combinatorial and Medicinal Chemistry

Received from the EFMC Symposium Secretariat (September 22, 2003)

Object: International Chemistry Symposium ASCMC in Moscow, May 5-8, 2004
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 09:31:45 +0200
From: "EFMC Symposium secretariat" <efmc@ldorganisation.com>
To: <pascal.mimero@wanadoo.fr>

International Symposium on Advances in Synthetic, Combinatorial and Medicinal Chemistry
President Hotel,
MOSCOW, Russia
May 5 - 8, 2004
Under the auspices of
EFMC - European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry
organized by
Medicinal Chemistry Division of the
D.I. Mendeleev Russian Chemical Society
and
ChemBridge Corporation

<http://www.efmc.ch/pages/conferences/ASCMC/1st%20announcement.htm>
Symposium Chairman: K.C. NICOLAOU, Scripps, UCSD, USA
The scientific program will encompass 13 confirmed Plenary Lectures, 12 invited major talks, 9 short oral communications and a major poster session. Poster presentations will be peer reviewed from submitted applications by the International Scientific Committee. The scientific program will be complemented by a cultural, entertainment & sightseeing program (provided by ChemBridge Corporation)
The topics to be covered during this symposium include:
• New Synthetic Methodologies, Total Synthesis of Natural Products and Heterocyclic Chemistry
• Combinatorial Chemistry, Diversity- and Target-Oriented Synthesis
• Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery & Development
The symposium language is English.
Confirmed Plenary Speakers
• Prof. Sir Jack BALDWIN,Oxford, UK
• Prof. Tamas BARTFAI, Scripps, USA
• Prof. Jan-Erling BÄCKVALL, Stockholm Univ., Sweden
• Prof. François DIEDERICH, ETH, Switzerland
• Prof. Alois FUERSTNER, Max Planck, Germany
• Prof. Stephen HANESSIAN, Univ. Montreal, Canada
• Prof. Johann MULZER, Univ. Vienna, Austria
• Prof. K.C. NICOLAOU, Scripps, UCSD, USA
• Prof. Nicos A. PETASIS, Univ. So. CA, USA
• Prof. Barry SHARPLESS, Scripps, USA
• Prof. Masakatsu SHIBASAKI, Univ. Tokyo, Japan
• Prof. Erik J. SORENSEN, Princeton Univ, USA
• Prof. Nikolai ZEFIROV, Moscow Univ. Russia
The program will also include a commercial exhibition and a half-day Business Mini-Symposium "Discovery Chemistry Outsourcing Opportunities in Russia", which will be concurrent with the major poster session.
More details on the program and registration information are available on our website or through the Symposium Secretariat ASCMC@LDOrganisation.com
ASCMC Secretariat
LD Organisation sprl
Route de Blocry, 55
B-1348 LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE
Belgium
Tel : +32 10 45 47 77
Fax : +32 10 45 97 19
This information has been forwarded to you by LD Organisation, a communication company involved in scientific congress organization. If you do not wish to receive this type of information anymore, please click here and type remove in the subject line.

39th IUPAC Congress and the 86th Conference of The Canadian Society for Chemistry

Received from the Congress Secretariat (October 20, 2003)

Object: The 39th IUPAC Congress and the 86th Conference of The Canadian Society for Chemistry
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 15:26:05 -0400
From: IUPAC2003 <iupac2003@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca>
To: "mimero@echemtest.net" <mimero @echemtest.net>
Dear Pascal Mimero:
Please note that some of the presentations that were scheduled to take place on Friday August 15 and that have been cancelled due to the power blackout, are now available on the Congress website at http://www.iupac2003.org.
Thank you!
Congress Secretariat

EUCO-CC5 / FIFTH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, La Londe les Maures, France, June 15-20 2004

Received from (October 20, 2003)

Object:
Date:
From:
To: "mimero@echemtest.net" <mimero @echemtest.net>
SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT

Notice: A few changes have been made compared to the First Announcement

THE FIFTH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY (EUCO-CC5)
will be held in the AGELONDE complex, at LA LONDE LES MAURES
on the Mediterranean coast, close to Hyères les Palmiers, 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
is undertaken by the

"Laboratoire de Physique Quantique" of P. Sabatier University, Toulouse (F)

and the

"Groupe de Chimie Théorique et Modélisation Moléculaire",
Aix-Marseille Universities I and III, Marseille (F).

Additional information can be found on the web site

http://www.irsamc.ups-tlse.fr/EUCOCC5