Conference Report

Report on the 64th Fall Meeting (2003) ofThe Japan Society of Applied Physics

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3200(b)

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9000
8000
7000
6000
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1 Meeting Statistics
Ratio of students tototal participants (%)

(c)

(d)

(digests per person)

Number of digests
purchased per participant

At this year’s meeting, there were a total of 3,950 research papers presented, with
3,590 regular lectures and 360 symposiums
and other special presentations (calculated at
15 minutes each, which is the time allowed forregular lectures), each of which were followedby lively discussions. Incidentally, there werea total of 3,902 papers (3,552 regular lecturesand 350 symposiums) at the meeting held last
autumn at Niigata University (Hokuriku / Shin’etsu Chapter), which represents a very impressive year-on-year increase of 48 papers. FromFigure 1 (ref. Fig. 1(a)), which shows data forMeetings held since 1994, we can see that interms of autumn meetings, the number of papers this year was on a scale rivaling that of themeeting held six years ago at Akita University(Tohoku Chapter). JSAP’s annual meetings saw
the number of papers level off and then begin
to decrease in keeping with the shift experienced by the semiconductor industry in Japan
from a boom period (in the 1980s) to a period

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Me

Number of papers

4800

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(a)

Number of registeredparticipants

The 64th Annual JSAP Meeting was held
over four days, from August 30 (Saturday)
to September 2 (Tuesday), at the Nanakuma
Campus of Fukuoka University in Fukuoka
City. There were concerns about the arrival ofa typhoon before the meeting, but the venue
was favored by mainly clear weather over theentire four days, and the meeting came to aclose with no major problems. I would like toexpress my sincere appreciation to all of themembers of the Local Executive Committee
for their devoted efforts – particularly Professor Mitsuo Maeda of Kyushu University (Local
Executive Committee Chairman), Professor Yasukuni Matsumoto of Fukuoka University (ViceChairman), Professor Nobuyasu Hiramatsu, alsoof Fukuoka University (in charge of Administration), and Professor Yukinori Kuroki of Kyushu
University, the Director of the Kyushu Chapter.
I would also like to thank President Hiroyuki
Yamashita of Fukuoka University and all themembers of the University Administration for
their invaluable assistance.

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Kiyoshi YATSUI*

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1994

1996

1998

Year

2000

2002

2004
SpringAutumn

Fig. 1 JSAP Annual Meeting Statistics* Extreme Energy-Density Research Institute, Nagaoka University of Technology

JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)23

Conference Reportof relative stagnation (in the 1990s). Nevertheless, taking into consideration the total number of papers at the spring meetings, it would
appear that there has been a recovery trend over the past three yearsor so. Perhaps as a reflection of this trend, the number of registeredparticipants reached 6,542, a significant increase over the 6,180 participants at the previous meeting at Niigata University (ref. Fig. 1(b)).
Given the state of the manufacturing industry, which has yet to show
satisfactory signs of recovery, participation has far exceeded our expectations, and as Chairman of the Annual Meeting Planning Committee, I couldn’t be more pleased with these results.
At this meeting, the number of papers increased in ten of the fifteen major classifications of fields. The five classifications with themost papers were:  Thin films / surfaces (457 papers),  Crystal
engineering (421 papers),  Semiconductors-A (372 papers),  Organic molecular electronics and bioelectronics (358), and  Semiconductors-B (344 papers). The classifications that showed the greatest percentage increase in the number of papers compared to last
autumn were:  Radiation / plasma electronics,  Optics, and Quantum electronics.
In addition to the regular lectures, there were 18 Symposiums,
four Joint Sessions, and one general lecture covering several secondary classifications. Joint Session F, entitled “Carbon Nanotubes:Foundations and Applications,” was established at the Spring 2003
Meeting. Despite the fact that this was only the second Joint Session
on this topic, there were 87 lectures, proof of the exceptionally highdegree of interest in fields related to nanotechnologies. Two JSAP
Schools were also held: School A, entitled “Points and Know-how inthe construction, composition, and electron state analysis of materials
for applied physics,” and School B, entitled “Organic Devices and theCutting Edge of Development: Part 1 – Materials” (offered througha collaboration between JSAP and the Society of Polymer Science,Japan (SPSJ)). Both were extremely popular, with School A receiving
211 people and School B welcoming 150 people.
During the meeting, Dr. Sumio Iijima, the recipient of the 3rd
JSAP Outstanding Achievement Award, presented a commemorative
lecture entitled “The Science and Technology of Nanotubes,” attracting such a large audience that the lecture hall was filled well beyond
its regular capacity. On the first day of the Meeting, the “14th Scientist Awards for the Presentation of an Excellent Paper” were presented to 41 individuals selected from among 571 of the 4,072 regular
lectures at the Spring 2003 Meeting (Kanagawa University) for whichapplications had been received in advance. JSAP President Toshio Goto presented the awards along with a commemorative gift, praisingthese young researchers for their achievements and offering words ofencouragement for their future endeavors.

24

JSAP International No.9 (January 2004)

2 Internet Reception of applications
for papers, creation of CD-ROM Digests, etc.
JSAP began accepting submissions for its Digest in electronic format from the call for papers for the Spring 2002 Meeting. At therecent meeting, the fourth since that time, nearly all submissions
were received electronically. Specifically, 99.6% of the papers werereceived in electronic format, with only nine papers being received
as hard copies. Even those nine papers were only submitted in hard
copy format because a single research institute was experiencing
problems with its computer system, so it can be considered that theactual rate of electronic submissions was no less than 100%, a ratethat is unprecedented in any other academic society. Given this situation, JSAP has decided to eliminate hard copy submissions of papersstarting with the Spring 2004 Meeting (Tokyo University of Technology), so that all submissions should be received electronically.
As shown in Fig. 1(c), students account for a large percentage ofparticipants at the meeting, with numbers approaching one third of
the total at the Autumn 2002 Meeting. From the perspective of thefuture of the Japan Society of Applied Physics, it is truly encouraging
to see that many young researchers participate actively in the Meetings and present their latest research results. On the other hand, it isregretful to see the continuing decline in the sales of JSAP Digests (ref.
Fig. 1(d)). I would like to ask all of our members for their cooperation in the purchase of the Digest, a key media for the transmissionof the most recent research achievements.
A number of issues have been raised in the past regarding theprint of a CD-ROM version of the Digest, and we would like to respond to these issues as quickly as possible. There are a number ofmerits to a CD-ROM Digest, including convenience in carrying the Digest because of the light weight of CDs, ease in searching for information, and compactness for easier storage. There are also disadvantages, however; for example, participants would be unable to takenotes while following along with the Digest at a lecture venue. We
are considering measures such as including the cost of the CD-ROM
in the Meeting Registration Fee, but an increase in overhead would
be unavoidable. We are also looking closely at the issue of encouraging presentations that use Power Point rather than OHPs. The Annual
Meeting Planning Committee is currently conducting a variety of casestudies with regard to these changes, but we feel that it is importantto first formally take in and reflect the consensus of the Society members. To this end, in the near future, we will conduct opinion surveys,
and will devote ourselves to the promotion of appropriate measures.
I would like to take this opportunity to request your assistance andcooperation in this regard.