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Logic,
Universal
Algebra,
Theoretical
Computer
Science		 L
UA
TCS
L&UA
L&TCS
UA&TCS

FIRST SOUTHERN AFRICAN SUMMER SCHOOL AND WORKSHOP ON

LOGIC,
UNIVERSAL ALGEBRA, AND
THEORETICAL COMPUTER SCIENCE

(LUATCS'99)

Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, South Africa
December 1-10, 1999

SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT
AND CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
(Last update: 22 September 1999)

LUATCS'99 is organized under the auspices of the Department of Mathematics at the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) in Johannesburg, South Africa, the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF), the Laboratory for Formal Aspects and Complexity in Computer Science (FACCS-Lab) at the University of Cape Town, and the Interest Group in Logic, Universal Algebra and Theoretical Computer Science at the South African Mathematical Society (SAMS).

ADVISORY BOARD:

Samson Abramsky (University of Edinburgh, UK)
Hajnal Andreka (Math. Inst. of the Hungarian Acad. of Sciences)
Johan van Benthem, Chair (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Chris Brink (University of Wollongong, Australia)
Robin Hirsch (University College London, UK)
Wilfrid Hodges (Queen Mary and Westfield College, UK)
Bjarni Jonsson (Vanderbilt University, USA)
Istvan Nemeti (Math. Inst. of the Hungarian Acad. of Sciences)
Jeff Zucker (McMaster University, Canada)

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:

Isabella Burger (Rand Afrikaans University, local arrangements),
Val Goranko (Rand Afrikaans University, co-chair),
Peter Jipsen (University of Cape Town, co-chair).

I. ACTIVITIES: Short introductory and advanced courses, tutorials and workshops on each of the three subjects: Logic, Universal Algebra and Theoretical Computer Science, as well as combined courses and tutorials/workshops on specific topics within the scope of the school. Also, there will be open sessions with contributed talks.

The courses and tutorials will be given by invited lecturers and will be grouped in two parts: introductory and advanced.

The purpose of the single-subject courses is to give a concise introduction into the basics, and some advanced topics of the subject for participants with little or no background (for the introductory courses) and with basic knowledge (for the advanced courses) in the subject.

The purpose of the interdisciplinary courses, tutorials, and workshops is to discuss the interaction between the subjects of the school.

A general purpose of the school is to reflect the current development of each of the three subjects and the interaction between them, with an emphasis on recent trends and research topics in them.

The introductory part is aimed at lower graduate (honours and masters) students but will be accessible for undergraduates majoring in mathematics and computer science too. Essentially no special knowledge, but some formal background, will be expected for these courses. The advanced part will be suitable for higher graduate (masters and doctoral) students and researchers.

1) PART 1: Introductory courses. December 1-4, RAU-Island (Vaal Dam, see below). Each course will comprise four sessions and will give a general background into the subject(s), necessary to follow the advanced courses.

COURSES AND LECTURERS:

2) PART 2: Advanced courses, tutorials, workshops, open sessions.

December 6-10, Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg. (NB: the duration of the school has been extended by 1 day since the 1st announcement.) Each of the modules listed below will consist of a tutorial part, possibly followed by a workshop part.

2.1) LECTURERS/WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS AND TOPICS:

2.2) WORKSHOPS and OPEN SESSIONS: Participants will have the opportunity to present their research at open sessions and special workshop sessions.

If you wish to contribute a talk to any of the workshops, please contact the respective organizer(s) BEFORE AUGUST 1 (see this webpage for email addresses).

For participation in the open session, send or e-mail in either plain text, standard LaTeX, or Postscript, a one A4 page abstract to the address of the school, to reach us BY AUGUST 1.

Notification of acceptance/rejection will be send to you soon after submission, and not later than AUGUST 15, unless otherwise specified by the workshop organizers.

More details on the courses, tutorials and workshops and detailed programme of the School will be placed in due course on our Webpage at

http://proof.mth.uct.ac.za/~pjipsen/luatcs99

and sent to the registered participants with the 3rd announcement.

2.3) CREDITS: The courses offered at the school can be taken for official credit and recognized (by prior arrangements with respective heads of departments) as modules for graduate courses, after successful completion of assignments given by the respective lecturers.

II. TIME: December 1-10, 1999. 9 working days, and a free/relocation day on December 5. (Note that this is an early summer time in the Southern hemisphere.)

III. PLACES AND ACCOMMODATION:

Part I: December 1-4 1999, RAU-Island. This is a fairly large island in the Vaal Dam, some 100 km south of Johannesburg. The island is a nature reserve, with various game on it to be seen: springboks, blesboks, gemsboks, zebras, gnus, etc. Besides the wilderness, it also has conference, accommodation, and recreation facilities including: 3 lecture rooms with boards and overhead projectors (one of them with an aircon); full board (accommodation and 3 meals a day), barbecue area, swimming pool, rugby field, volley-ball court etc.

ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION: November 30. We shall provide bus transportation for all participants from RAU campus to the Island on that day. There will be two buses, the first leaving at 12.00, and the second at 16.00. We can transport, upon prior request, participants from the Johannesburg International Airport to RAU on November 30, between 10.00 and 15.00h. (Please book your trip to Johannesburg so as to reach RAU campus in time, because there is no regular transport to the Island.)

On December 5 all participants will be transported back to RAU campus.

ACCOMMODATION: The accommodation on the island is somewhat primitive (yet satisfactory, at least in summer time) and includes a few individual rooms (which will be reserved for invited lecturers), while the participants will be accommodated in two large sleeping barracks (for men and women) each with toilet and shower facilities. The FULL PACKAGE (transportation by bus-boat between RAU and the Island, accommodation, 3 meals and refreshments for 5 days) will cost R550 pp. Note that the access between the mainland and the island is by a special boat only, which can be hired at a cost.

NB: Because of the limited accommodation facilities on the island, the number of participants in the first part of the school will be limited, so early registration for that part is essential.

PART II: December 6-10, 1999, RAU campus. The university campus is situated in Auckland Park, a relatively quiet and safe suburb off the business center of Johannesburg. It has very good conference facilities, and the participants will be provided with computers and access to Internet during this part of the event. For more info about RAU, visit its Web site at http://www.rau.ac.za.

ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION: December 5. There will be a Welcome reception at RAU during and after the registration of that evening.

ACCOMMODATION: We offer 3 main options for accommodation during the 2nd part of the school:

  1. Hotel. The following special rates have been negotiated with Randburg Towers Hotel (3 star, near Waterfront in Randburg, about 30 min drive to RAU), between which and RAU we shall provide twice daily bus transport.
    1. Single rooms: R244 pp/pd, incl. breakfast.
    2. Double and twin rooms: R230 per room/pd, excl. breakfast @ R29 per person.

    All rooms are with bath en suite, aircon, telephone, and TV.

  2. There are limited possibilities for accommodation in guest-houses within walking distance from the university, offering good, more intimate environment, with prices ranging from R200-300 pp/pd, breakfast included. The guest-houses have limited capacities and will be booked on the basis of first registered - first booked.
  3. Student hostels of the University of Witwatersrand (Wits), about 10-15 min drive from RAU. A DAILY PACKAGE of single room, breakfast, and bus transportation to and from RAU during December 5-10 will cost R100 pp/pd. In addition, dinners can be booked at the hostels at R25. The last night for which we have booked the hostels is December 10/11. Those who wish to stay there longer should make their own arrangements.

For more luxurious accommodation and additional options, check out our Web-page, but please note that if you choose an accommodation not listed above, you should make your own booking and transport arrangements.

IV. GRANTS:

We offer a limited number of student grants covering, partly or fully, registration fee and the local expenses of participants who are academically deserving and need financial support for the attendance of the school. Graduate students and young researchers from disadvantaged communities, interested in the subjects of the School are encouraged to apply.

The grant applications should include:

i) letter of application;
ii) short curriculum vitae
iii) short description of completed and currently studied graduate courses, topic(s) of master/doctoral theses (if applicable), and research interests.
iv) reference from the supervisor.

The applications should reach us soon as possible and NOT LATER THAN JULY 1, 1999, electronically or per ordinary mail to our postal address given at the end of this announcement.

V. PRE-REGISTRATION:

The registration form is attached separately or can be downloaded from our Web page. Please complete and send it per e-mail, fax or mail, to reach us BY SEPTEMBER 1.

VI. PAYMENTS:

1) REGISTRATION FEE covering the attendance of the courses, tutorials and workshops, up to 6 sets of course readers per part, and refreshments.

The EARLY fees, payable by SEPTEMBER 1, 1999 are as follows

(at present 1US $ trades for approx. 6 rands):

  Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 & 2
Students: R 100 R 100 R 200
Academic participants: R 200 R 200 R 400
Accompanying persons: R 50 R 50 R 100
Other participants: R 300 R 300 R 600

NB: FROM SEPTEMBER 1, ALL FEES ABOVE GO UP BY 20%.

Deadline for payment: NOVEMBER 1, 1999.

2) An ACCOMMODATION DEPOSIT of R200 is payable at pre-registration, or NOT LATER THAN NOVEMBER 1, 1999. The remaining part of the accommodation will be

settled directly by the participants (in the hotels and guest-houses) or paid to the organizers on arrival (for the Island and Wits hostels).

3) Cancellation policy: before November 1: full refund, less administrative costs. After November 1: 50% of the registration fee plus the deposit, if still refundable to us.

4) The methods of payment are indicated in the registration form.

VII. Summary of DEADLINES:

  1. For grant applications: JULY 1.
  2. For submissions to the workshops and the open sessions: AUGUST 1.
  3. For notification AUGUST 15 (unless otherwise specified by the organizers).
  4. For registration and payment of EARLY fees: SEPTEMBER 1.
  5. For FULL payment of registration fees and accommodation deposit: NOVEMBER 1.

VIII. OTHERS: All prices below are payable on arrival.

  1. Lunch packages of 5 lunches will be arranged during the second part of the school at R150.
  2. A banquet will be organized on December 8 at R70 per person.
  3. One-day outings will be organized on December 11 to Gold Reef City (Johannesburg), and to the Rhino and Lion Nature reserve and Sterkfontein Caves (about 30-40 km away from Johannesburg) each at approx. R50 pp. Details will be included in the 3rd announcement and placed on the Web.

If you are interested in additional touring, excursions, entertainment and other recreational activities in South Africa you can contact Brenda or Tania from Melville Travel at Meltrav@yebo.co.za, tel. ++27-11-726-7166, fax: ++27-11-726-7485, or any other South African travel agency.

IX. FURTHER INFORMATION AND ENQUIRES:

For updates and further information, check out our Webpage at:

http://proof.mth.uct.ac.za/~pjipsen/luatcs99

For all correspondence, enquires, and to be included on the mailing list, please write to:

luatcs99@na.rau.ac.za

or send a letter to:

LUATCS'99
Department of Mathematics
Rand Afrikaans University
PO BOX 524
Auckland Park 2006
South Africa

You can also contact us directly:

Val Goranko at vfg@na.rau.ac.za or
Peter Jipsen at pjipsen@maths.uct.ac.za or
Isabella Burger at icb@na.rau.ac.za