From zita at ISI.EDU  Wed May 31 16:19:33 2006
From: zita at ISI.EDU (Zita Wenzel)
Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 13:19:33 -1000
Subject: [APRU-DLI] APRUNet Newsletter (V.5, n.4)
Message-ID: <447E2485.5010601@isi.edu>

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APRUNET NEWSLETTER
APRIL 2006 (V.5, n.4)

Current web issue and archived copies:
<http://www.apru.org/activities/aprunet/news.htm>

To subscribe to the APRUNet Newsletter, see: 
<http://mailman.isi.edu/mailman/listinfo/apru-dli>

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. APRU Distance Learning and the Internet Conference ? CALL EXTENDED
2. Inaugural APRU Enterprise Business Plan Competition
3. APRU Brain and Mind Research Symposium
4. APRU Doctoral Students Conference
5. 7TH APRU Fellows Program
6. APRU Enterprise Business Plan Competition - Extra Chapter Challenge
7. Technology Initiatives Target Public Health
8. Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI)
9. China Rejects Wikipedia, Starts its Own Version
10. Educause Announces Current Issues Results
11. State Schools See Benefits of Online Education
12. Stanford Med School Joins Internet Project
13. EFF Calls for Patent to be Invalidated
14. Stanford Announces Online High School for Gifted Youth
15. Comments and Suggestions


1. APRU DISTANCE LEARNING AND THE INTERNET CONFERENCE
<http://www.apru.org/activities/aprunet/>
<http://apru2006.dir.u-tokyo.ac.jp>


CALL FOR PAPERS DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 1 JUNE!

The Seventh Annual Distance Learning and the Internet Conference will be 
hosted by University of Tokyo from 8-10 November 2006. The seventh in 
its series, the conference aims to bring together leading, international 
distance learning experts from academia, business and public sectors. 
The theme for this year is "Technology Enabled Global Knowledge 
Structuring".

The sub-themes for the conference are:

- Mobile and ubiquitous learning
- Open knowledge sharing
- Virtual labs
- Multi-lingual learning environment
- Content development support
- Technology trends

Important dates:

Submission deadline EXTENDED: 15 June 2006.
Acceptance notices issued: 1 July 2006.
Camera-ready deadline: 1 September 2006.
Final version (2-10 page full paper) due for the conference proceedings.
Papers will be published on the conference web site.
All submissions are to be made electronically via a link from the APRU 
DLI 2006 Web site <http://apru2006.dir.u-tokyo.ac.jp>.

Presentations from last year?s conference, and information on this 
year?s conference, are available on the APRUNet web site at 
<http://www.apru.org/activities/aprunet/>.


2. INAUGURAL APRU ENTERPRISE BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION
<http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/APRU/>

Inaugural APRU Enterprise Business Plan Competition ? Extra Chapter 
Challenge (ECC) is now open. This competition will be conducted 
concurrently but as an additional component of the 7th APRU Doctoral 
Students Conference (DSC) to be hosted by the National University of 
Singapore (NUS) from 17-21 July 2006.

The ECC, with prize money worth approximately US$20,000, is open to 
doctoral students in any discipline from all APRU member universities. 
Students are required to write an extra chapter in their dissertations 
on how they will commercialize their research output with the aim of 
creating extensive economic and social value beyond their dissertation. 
The process of developing a sustainable business plan will help them 
capitalize on their intellectual capabilities, and cultivate a spirit of 
innovation and entrepreneurship. Further benefits include a rare 
opportunity to present their work to an international panel of judges 
comprising distinguished and prominent members of the venture capital 
community, industry leaders and other experts.

Further information on the program and other conference information will 
be progressively made available at the conference website at 
<http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/APRU/>. If you have any queries, please 
direct them to the ECC Organizing Committee at <aprudscecc at nus.edu.sg> 
<mailto:aprudscecc at nus.edu.sg>. The APRU Secretariat can also be 
contacted at <apru at apru.org <mailto:apru at apru.org>>.


3. APRU BRAIN AND MIND RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM
<maxb at physiol.usyd.edu.au> <mailto:maxb at physiol.usyd.edu.au>

The APRU Inaugural Brain & Mind Research in the Asia Pacific (BMAP) 
Symposium, to be hosted by Brain & Mind Research Institute of the 
University of Sydney, will be held from 13-16 August 2006.

The Symposium seeks to showcase strengths in the various fields of 
neurosciences in APRU. The topic of brain and mind research is pertinent 
to the study and progress in ameliorating diseases of the brain and mind 
in the 21st century. Cutting edge research in fields such as neurology, 
psychology, and psychiatry are currently at the frontiers of knowledge 
that will assist many in uncovering the workings of the brain, its 
susceptible diseases and the causes of mental illness and neurological 
disorders.

Innovation, development and disease prevention strategies are expected 
as synergistic efforts of APRU members gathered for this symposium. The 
Symposium will gather brain researchers for the first time in Asia 
Pacific, alongside the work of the Brain & Mind Research Institute. The 
Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI) is a center for discovery, 
innovative and integrative research strategies, clinical product 
development, and actions that translate research into improved treatment 
and disease prevention strategies. More information on the Institute can 
be obtained at <http://www.bmri.med.usyd.edu.au/>.

Fees and timelines for registration are as follows:

Late Registration: A$420
(May 2 - July 3, 2006)

For delegates who wish to present at the symposium, please indicate your 
preference for the topics listed in the Presentation Enrollment Form. 
More information on the BMAP Symposium is found at <http://bmap.com.au/>.


4. APRU DOCTORAL STUDENTS CONFERENCE
<http://www.apru.org/activities/dsc/>

The 7th APRU Doctoral Students Conference (DSC) will be hosted by the 
National University of Singapore (NUS) from 17-21 July 2006. The 
conference theme is "Inventing the Future: Trends, Perspectives and 
Enterprise from the Pacific Rim".

Building on last year?s theme that centers on a sustainable future, the 
DSC 2006 aspires to explore the ways in which academic research can 
contribute towards inventing a future that benefits the community and 
the world. Designed as an interdisciplinary gathering of doctoral 
students where the flow of ideas and information converge, the 
conference provides an important avenue for doctoral students to present 
their research in an international academic setting to fellow students 
from other APRU universities. It will be an opportune time for students 
to obtain critique on their research, establish valuable networks and 
future academic collaborations.

The DSC participants will be provided with 6 nights of free lodging at 
the NUS residence. No registration fees will be charged as well. We hope 
that this will strongly promote participation from doctoral students. 
APRU member universities are encouraged to select and fund the travel of 
at least one or more doctoral students to this conference.

For successful DSC applicants, they are also encouraged to maximize 
their subsidized accommodation by taking part in the APRU Enterprise 
Business Plan Competition ? Extra Chapter Challenge (ECC) where the top 
three participants will share prize money of approximately US$20,000.

More information on registration, lodging and other conference 
information will progressively be made available at the conference 
website at <http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/APRU/>. The NUS conference 
organizers, Mr. Raphael Funwa Iluyomade and Ms. Chan Mei Yen, may be 
contacted at <apruinquiry at nus.edu.sg <mailto:apruinquiry at nus.edu.sg> 
<mailto:aprudscecc at nus.edu.sg>> for any queries regarding the conference.


5. 7TH APRU FELLOWS PROGRAM
<maree.tait at anu.edu.au <mailto:maree.tait at anu.edu.au>>

The APRU Fellows Program (AFP) is into its 7th series and next year, it 
will be hosted by the Australian National University (ANU) from 16-25 
August 2006. The 2006 Fellows Program is championed by the Asia Pacific 
School of Economics and Government at ANU and will focus on the theme 
?Regional Security and Governance?. This year's program aims to bring 
together faculty members from the political sciences, humanities and 
social sciences, international relations, law, economics, sciences and 
environmental studies who are interested to study the myriad of 
complexities relating to regional security and governance.

? Great Power Politics and Regional Security Implications
? Terrorism and Islam
? Democratization in the Asia Pacific
? The Political Economy of Globalization
? Regional Architecture
? Environmental Security
? Pandemics and Health Security


6. APRU ENTERPRISE BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION - EXTRA CHAPTER CHALLENGE
<camp-fp at apng.org <mailto:camp-fp at apng.org>>

APNG Secretariat is once again happy to announce the APNG Camp 
Fellowship Program. The APNG Camp Committee now cordially invites 
suitable applicants to apply for fellowship funding to participate in 
the 8th APNG Camp in Singapore from 18-20 July 2006.


7. TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES TARGET PUBLIC HEALTH
<http://news.com.com/2100-11393_3-6072041.html>

IBM is sponsoring two initiatives intended to bolster global public 
health efforts to avoid pandemics. In fall 2005, IBM hosted an event for 
leaders of the health community to share ideas about what contribution a 
technology company could make to support their efforts. The results are 
the Interoperable Health Care Information Infrastructure (IHII) and the 
Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Modeller (STEM). IHII mines health data 
and looks for patterns in symptoms, for example, that might anticipate 
the spread of a particular illness. Then the STEM applies that 
information to data about such topics as human travel patterns to help 
formulate efficient plans to limit the spread of the illness. A 
committee representing the World Health Organization, the Center for 
Disease Control and Prevention, the Scripps Research Institute, and the 
University of Pittsburgh's Center for Biodiversity oversees these 
programs. Scripps and IBM will construct a facility in Florida to 
support the initiatives.

CNET, 14 May 2006


8. ELECTRONIC CULTURAL ATLAS INITIATIVE (ECAI)

The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative is accepting papers for the 
Fall 2006 meetings to be held in conjunction with both the Pacific 
Neighborhood Consortium (PNC) and the Pacific Rim Digital Library 
Alliance (PRDLA). The conference is being hosted by Seoul National 
University Library, and will be held at Seoul National University Hoam 
Faculty House from 16-18 August 2006.

ECAIs theme for the meeting is to continue a focus on cultural atlas 
development by continuing work on the infrastructural issues in creating 
the projects, and by show-casing exemplar cultural atlases. We will 
continue our exploration into e-Science and Grid technologies for the 
humanities, and hope that our colleagues of Korean studies will share 
their cultural scholarship with the conference delegates.

ECAI Sessions:
? Exemplary Cultural Atlases
? Cultural Atlas Infrastructure -- spatial, temporal, biographical and 
thematic aspects
? Korean Culture
? Humanities e-Science and Grid Technologies

The session formats for the ECAI/PNC/PRDLA conference consists of oral 
presentations and poster/computer demonstrations. In addition to the 
ECAI sessions, PNC and PRDLA will offer sessions on digital archives, 
GIS-map collections, e-Publishing, digital preservation, GIS, e-Science, 
digital museums, humanities GIS, and e-Learning.

Papers can be submitted for consideration in ECAI and other sessions. 
Send your paper title, author(s) names, institutional relationship and 
email address, and a one-page maximum abstract to Kimberly Carl at 
<kcarl at berkely.edu <mailto:kcarl at berkely.edu>> by 30 June. Continue to 
visit both the ECAI (ecai.org) and PNC (pnclink.org) web sites for more 
information about the conference.


9. CHINA REJECTS WIKIPEDIA, STARTS ITS OWN VERSION
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/14563324.htmEDUCAUSE>

Baidu, the leading search engine in China, has launched a site that 
approximates Wikipedia but with none of the content that prompted the 
Chinese government to block Wikipedia last year. Chinese authorities 
exert strong control over Internet content available in the country, and 
Wikipedia includes enough material deemed objectionable that the entire 
site is unavailable. Robin Li, chairman of Baidu, said his company's new 
site, Baike, was inspired by Wikipedia, though he said he has never 
actually seen Wikipedia.China is second only to the United States in 
Internet users, and Chinese users have reportedly written more than 
25,000 Baike entries in the past week. Li said, "I certainly hope our 
encyclopedia will be the most authoritative one for any Chinese users."

San Jose Mercury News, 12 May 2006


10. EDUCAUSE ANNOUNCES CURRENT ISSUES RESULTS
<http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm06/eqm0622.asp>

EDUCAUSE has released results from its seventh annual Current Issues 
Survey, which gauges attitudes among campus IT leaders about the 
significance of a range of issues. This year's results represent 
responses from 628, or 37 percent, of EDUCAUSE member institutions. Most 
respondents are CIOs at their respective institutions. Notable in this 
year's results was the rise of "Security and Identity Management" above 
"Funding" as the top issue in terms of strategic importance. The survey 
also found that "Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity," which had only 
appeared on the top-ten list once before, has become a growing concern 
for many respondents, landing fourth for strategic importance. In 
addition, "Enterprise-Level Portals," which had been represented on the 
top-ten lists in several previous years, was not on the list this year, 
reflecting the technology's evolution from a hot topic to one that, at 
many institutions, has been addressed and is now seen as an ongoing 
service.

EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 5 May 2006


11. STATE SCHOOLS SEE BENEFITS OF ONLINE EDUCATION
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114713782174047386.html>

Online higher education programs are booming, and many state colleges 
and universities are seeing significant benefits from the online 
programs they offer. At the University of Massachusetts, for example, 
enrollment in online programs has quadrupled since 2001, and enrollment 
in Pennsylvania State University's online program rose 18 percent last 
year. A greater number of public schools offer online programs than do 
private, nonprofit colleges, which have had mixed success online. An 
online initiative of Oxford University, Stanford University, and Yale 
University recently closed its doors, and a number of other elite 
schools have stayed away from online education, fearing it would tarnish 
their reputations. Although many state schools charge more per credit 
for online courses than on-campus learning, the costs are often still 
lower than, for example, tuition at the University of Phoenix, the 
leading for-profit online institution. Applicants to most online 
programs are held to similar, if not identical, standards as on-campus 
students, and most agree that the quality of online education in many 
cases approaches that of on-campus learning.

Wall Street Journal, 9 May 2006


12. STANFORD MED SCHOOL JOINS INTERNET PROJECT
<http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/14473749.htm>

The School of Medicine at Stanford University has joined a project led 
by a San Diego company to develop a Web portal where users in China can 
find accurate, current medical information. Many in China still rely on 
herbal remedies and treatments. The portal is intended to provide a 
reliable source of information to fill the gap between traditional 
approaches and modern medicine. Michael Chermak, chief executive of 
Bridgetech Holdings International, which is leading development of the 
portal, stressed the importance of having partners such as Stanford 
whose reputation can provide credibility for the project among users. 
Other partners in the venture include The Texas A&M Health Center and 
the Wu Jieping Medical Foundation, in China. Paul Costello, director of 
communications for Stanford's medical school, said the institution is 
not likely to benefit directly from the partnership but that the goal is 
to spread information "throughout the globe."

Mercury News, 1 May 2006


13. EFF CALLS FOR PATENT TO BE INVALIDATED
<http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/04/2006040601t.htm>

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has called on the U.S. Patent 
and Trademark Office (USPTO) to invalidate a patent that broadly covers 
technologies that allow tests to be posted and taken online. In 2003, 
the USPTO granted the patent to Test.com, which has since contacted a 
number of colleges and universities, as well as businesses, that conduct 
online testing, saying those services violate the patent. Many of those 
approached by Test.com believe that the idea of putting tests on the Web 
is too obvious to warrant a patent. Now, the EFF says it has evidence 
that, even if the idea justifies a patent, Test.com was not the first to 
develop the technology to make it happen. According to the EFF, the 
IntraLearn Software Corporation began selling products with online 
testing capabilities in 1997, two years before Test.com applied for its 
patent. Jason Schultz, staff lawyer for the EFF, said that the USPTO 
would address the validity of the patent, which could take as long as a 
year or more. If the office determines that a patent is appropriate, 
said Schultz, it will "a tiny insignificant patent" rather than the very 
broad patent granted to Test.com.

Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 April 2006


14. STANFORD ANNOUNCES ONLINE HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED YOUTH

Stanford University has announced that its existing Education Program 
for Gifted Youth program will in the fall begin offering a full high 
school curriculum and a diploma to students who complete it. Started in 
1992, the Education Program for Gifted Youth currently offers online 
courses to about 4,000 students between the ages of 4 and 18. The new 
offerings will round out a high school curriculum and will establish the 
program as the first online high school that targets gifted students. 
Other institutions, such as the University of Miami and the University 
of Texas, operate online high schools without a focus on high-performing 
students. Stanford's new program will be open to students in grades 
10-12 who must apply for admission; demonstrate excellent achievement 
after they are enrolled; and pay tuition for the program, which is 
expected to be about $12,000 per year. Stanford said it will offer 
financial assistance and will particularly look for students from 
disadvantaged schools.

San Jose Mercury News, 12 April 2006


15. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS
<http://www.apru.org/activities/aprunet/news.htm>
<apru-dli at mailman.isi.edu> <mailto:apru-dli at mailman.isi.edu>
<zita at isi.edu> <mailto:zita at isi.edu>

This is the networking activities 
<http://www.apru.org/activities/aprunet/news.htm> newsletter of the 
Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU). It is designed as a tool 
to assist in the development of advanced Internet capabilities among 
APRU universities and APEC economies. The key goal is to develop 
teaching and research applications that utilize advanced Internet 
technologies, e.g., distance learning, virtual conferences, 
telemedicine, etc. by sharing, networking, partnerships, and 
collaborations.

This newsletter may be used to give or receive information on a project 
or to look for partners or collaborators. Comments or suggestions are 
encouraged and welcomed. For online current and past copies of the 
APRUNet Newsletter, see <http://www.apru.org/activities/aprunet/news.htm>.

Please send your news to <apru-dli at mailman.isi.edu> 
<mailto:apru-dli at mailman.isi.edu>. If you do not wish to be subscribed, 
or wish to add your name to the mailing list, please see 
<http://mailman.isi.edu/mailman/listinfo/apru-dli>.

Zita Wenzel
APRUNet Coordinator
Please email <zita at isi.edu> <mailto:zita at isi.edu>.

Copyright (c) 2006 Association of Pacific Rim Universities.
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