Inaugural Lecture

Prof. Leon O Chua

[Affiliation]
University of California at Berkeley

[Title]
The Missing Memristor found

[URLs]
. Found: the missing circuit element: Nature News
. Memristor found: HP Labs proves fourth integrated circuit element
. The Mysterious Memristor

Plenary Talks

Prof. Yoshiyasu Takefuji

[Affiliation]
Keio University

[Title]
Known and unknown phenomena of nonlinear behaviors in the power harvesting mat and the transverse acoustic wave speaker

[Abstract]
Known and unknown behaviors of two nonlinear systems are described in this paper. The power harvesting project is mentioned where the power generation mat using piezoelectric elements was experimented and demonstrated in Tokyo station of Japan Railways east (JR-east) company in 2006 and 2008 respectively. The commuters and passengers generate electric power by passing the power generation mats through SUICA (RFID) gates which can provide enough electric power for operating the RFID gate system. The system is composed of the power generation circuit and the super capacitor circuit to store the generated electric power. Thermoelectric power generation project is also proposed in this paper where peltier elements are used for generating the continuous power harvesting. Unknown phenomena of the transverse acoustic waves from a new speaker are depicted in this paper. The new speaker under development is useful in railways stations and trains where we can hear the transverse acoustic sound clearly in noisy places. The transverse wave speaker does not generate reverberant sound and the sound attenuation in distance is much smaller than 6dB.

Prof. Chi K. Tse

[Affiliation]
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

[Title]
Potpourri of Applications of Complex Networks Research

[Abstract]
Research on complex networks has been a subject of rigorous theoretical research in the mathematics and physics research communities in the past decade. The many discoveries that human interactions, man-made and natural networks share a power-law degree distribution and small-world property have clearly indicated a high level of relevance of the study of complex networks with real-world applications. However, progress in applying the theoretical results to solving practical problems is still slow. In this talk some recent results in applying complex networks research in real-world problems will be reviewed. The emphasis is on how complex networks would provide a new perspective on the way problems can be formulated, leading to possible new solution approaches. Examples in engineering, disease transmission, language, music and finance are given.