Tag Archives: Edinburgh Napier University

IHEX and a call for papers

IHEX has nothing to do with high tech witches (sigh … mildly disappointing), it is the abbreviation for “Intelligent interfaces and Human factors in EXtended environments” and I got a June 29, 2022 announcement or call for papers via email,

International Workshop on Intelligent interfaces and Human factors in EXtended environments (IHEX) – SITIS 2022 16th international conference on Signal Image Technology & Internet based Systems, Dijon, France, October 19-21, 2022

Dear Colleagues,
It is with great pleasure that we would like to invite you to send a contribution to the International Workshop on Intelligent interfaces and Human factors in EXtended environments (IHEX) at SITIS 2022 16th international conference on Signal Image Technology & Internet based Systems (Conference website: https://www.sitis-conference.org).

The workshop is about new approaches for designing and implementing intelligent eXtended Reality systems. Please find the call for papers below and forward it to colleagues who might be interested in contributing to the workshop.
For any questions and information, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Best Regards,
Giuseppe Caggianese

CFP [Call for papers]
———-
eXtended Reality is becoming more and more widespread; going beyond entertainment and cultural heritage fruition purposes, these technologies offer new challenges and opportunities also in educational, industrial and healthcare domains. The research community in this field deals with technological and human factors issues, presenting theoretical and methodological proposals for perception, tracking, interaction and visualization. Increasing attention is observed towards the use of machine learning and AI methodologies to perform data analysis and reasoning, manage a multimodal interaction, and ensure an adaptation to users’ needs and preferences. The workshop is aimed at investigating new approaches for the design and implementation of intelligent eXtended Reality systems. It intends to provide a forum to share and discuss not only technological and design advances but also ethical concerns about the implications of these technologies on changing social interactions, information access and experiences.

Topics for the workshop include, but are not limited to:

 – Intelligent User Interfaces in eXtended environments
 – Computational Interaction for XR
 – Quality and User Experience in XR
 – Cognitive Models for XR
 – Semantic Computing in environments
 – XR-based serious games
 – Virtual Agents in eXtended environments
 – Adaptive Interfaces
 – Visual Reasoning
 – Content Modelling
 – Responsible Design of eXtended Environments
 – XR systems for Human Augmentation
 – AI methodologies applied to XR
 – ML approaches in XR
 – Ethical concerns in XR

VENUE
———-
University of Burgundy main campus, Dijon, France, October 19-21, 2022

WORKSHOP CO-CHAIRS
———————————–
Agnese Augello, Institute for high performance computing and networking, National Research Council, Italy
Giuseppe Caggianese, Institute for high performance computing and networking, National Research Council, Italy
Boriana Koleva, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

PROGRAM COMMITTEE
———————————-
Agnese Augello, Institute for high performance computing and networking, National Research Council, Italy
Giuseppe Caggianese, Institute for high performance computing and networking, National Research Council, Italy
Giuseppe Chiazzese, Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council, Italy
Dimitri Darzentas, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland
Martin Flintham, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
Ignazio Infantino, Institute for high performance computing and networking, National Research Council, Italy
Boriana Koleva, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
Emel Küpçü, Xtinge Technology Inc., Turkey
Effie Lai-Chong Law, Durham University, United Kingdom
Pietro Neroni, Institute for high performance computing and networking, National Research Council, Italy

SUBMISSION AND DECISIONS
——————————————-
Each submission should be at most 8 pages in total including bibliography and well-marked appendices and must follow the IEEE [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers] double columns publication format.

You can download the IEEE conference templates – Latex and MS Word A4 – at the following URL: https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html
Paper submission will only be online via SITIS 2022 submission site:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sitis2022

Submissions will be peer-reviewed by at least two peer reviewers. Papers will be evaluated based on relevance, significance, impact, originality, technical soundness, and quality of presentation.
At least one author should attend the conference to present an accepted paper.

IMPORTANT DATES
—————————-
Paper Submission      July 15, 2022
Acceptance/Reject Notification.     September 9, 2022
Camera-ready       September 16, 2022
Author Registration    September 16, 2022

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
——————————————–
All papers accepted for presentation at the main tracks and workshops will be included in the conference proceedings, which will be published by IEEE Computer Society and referenced in IEEE Xplore Digital Library, Scopus, DBLP and major indexes.

REGISTRATION
———————–
At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the conference and present the work. A single registration allows attending both track and workshop sessions.

CONTACTS
—————-
For any questions, please contact us via email.

Agnese Augello agnese.augello@icar.cnr.it
Giuseppe Caggianese giuseppe.caggianese@icar.cnr.it
Boriana Koleva  B.Koleva@nottingham.ac.uk

Good luck!

SAPPI to locate cellulose nanofibril facility in the Netherlands

SAPPI (formerly South African Pulp and Paper Industries) has announced it will build a nanocellulose facility in the Netherlands. From a March 11, 2015 news item on Nanowerk,

Sappi Limited, a leading global producer of dissolving wood pulp and graphics, speciality and packaging papers, is pleased to announce that it will build a pilot-scale plant for low-cost Cellulose NanoFibrils (nanocellulose) production at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Sittard-Geleen in the Netherlands. The pilot plant is expected to be operational within nine months.

A March 11, 2015 SAPPI media release (also on PR Newswire), which originated the news item, provides more detail about SAPPI’s nanocellulose business plans and the proposed pilot plant,

Commenting on the decision, Andrea Rossi, Group Head Technology, Sappi Limited, explained that the pilot plant will help with Sappi’s move into new adjacent business fields based on renewable raw materials. Sappi’s strategy includes seeking growth opportunities by producing innovative performance materials from renewable resources. The raw material for the pilot plant would be supplied from any of Sappi’s Saiccor, Ngodwana and Cloquet dissolving wood pulp plants. The pilot plant is the precursor for Sappi to consider the construction of a commercial CNF plant.

He goes on to say “the pilot plant will test the manufacturing of dry re-dispersible Cellulose NanoFibrils (CNF) using the proprietary technology developed by Sappi and Edinburgh Napier University. The location of the pilot plant at Brightlands Chemelot Campus provides Sappi with easy access to multiple partners with whom Sappi will seek to co-develop products that will incorporate CNF across a large variety of product applications to optimise performance and to create unique characteristics for these products.

The CNF produced by Sappi will have unique morphology, specifically modified for either hydrophobic or hydrophilic applications. Products produced using Sappi’s CNF will be optimally suitable for conversion in lighter and stronger fibre-reinforced composites and plastics, in food and pharmaceutical applications, and in rheology modifiers as well as in barrier and other paper and coating applications.

Speaking on behalf of Brightlands Chemelot Campus, the CEO Bert Kip said “We’re proud that a globally leading company like Sappi has chosen our campus for their new facility. The initiative perfectly fits with our focus area on bio-based materials and our new pilot plant infrastructure.”

In December 2014, Sappi and Edinburgh Napier University announced the results of their 3 year project to find a low cost energy-saving process that would allow Sappi to produce the nanocellulose on a commercially viable basis – and importantly without producing large volumes of chemical waste water associated with existing techniques. At the time, Professor Rob English, who led the research with his Edinburgh Napier colleague, Dr. Rhodri Williams, said “What is significant about our process is the use of unique chemistry, which has allowed us to very easily break down the wood pulp fibers into nanocellulose. There is no expensive chemistry required and, most significantly, the chemicals used can be easily recycled and reused without generating large quantities of waste water.

Math Jennekens, R&D Director at Sappi Europe who is the project coordinator and will oversee the pilot plant, said “We are very excited to be able to move from a bench top environment into real-world production. Our targeted run-rate will be 8 tons per annum. We will produce a dry powder that can be easily redispersed in water. The nanocellulose is unmodified which makes it easier to combine with other materials. The product will be used to build partnerships to test the application of our nanocellulose across the widest range of uses.”

He went on to thank the Government of the Province of Limburg in the Netherlands for their significant support and financial contribution towards the establishment of the pilot plant.

This business with a pilot production plant reminds me of CelluForce which has a cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) or, as it’s also known, nanocellulose crystal (NCC) production plant located in Windsor, Québec. They too announced a production plant which opened to fanfare in January 2012. in my Oct. 3, 2013 post (scroll down about 60% of the way) I noted that production had stopped in August 2013 due to a growing stockpile. As of March 11, 2015, I was not able to find any updates about the stockpile on the CelluForce website. The most recent CelluForce information I’ve been able to find is in a Feb. 19, 2015 posting (scroll down about 40% of the way).