Technical Program Chair's message

On behalf of the Technical Program Committee, it is my pleasure to welcome you to ISCAS 2004. ISCAS 2004's technical program covers topics in all areas of interest to the Circuits and Systems Society. A record number of 2,134 papers were submitted. The Technical Program Committee selected 1,262 papers (59%) to be presented at ISCAS 2004. Papers are organized into 16 technical tracks consisting of 17 parallel sessions (14 lecture and 3 poster). In total, 168 lecture and 90 poster sessions, including 19 Invited Sessions, are scheduled to be held during the three days of the symposium. ISCAS 2004 also features three keynote and two forum plenary sessions. The topics of the keynote plenary sessions are consistent with the theme of the conference: " Genomic Signal Processing " by Dr. P. P. Vaidyanathan, " CNN Technology for Brain-like Spatial-Temporal Sensory Computing-Present and Future " by Dr. T. Roska, and " Practical Applications of 3-D and 4-D Filters " by Dr. L. T. Bruton. The two plenary forum sessions address challenges in the areas of new technologies of interest to the CAS Society: the forum " New Era of Technology " will address new technologies and the opportunities they bring to the research community, while the forum " The Future of Circuits and Systems " will host past and current presidents of the CAS Society. Eight half-day and two full-day tutorials/short courses will be offered by leading experts from industry and academia. The technical program has been prepared by the ISCAS 2004 Technical Program Committee, consisting of 25 Committee Members, 267 Review Committee Members, and almost 1,400 reviewers. 7,448 reviews were received and each paper submitted to ISCAS this year received at least two reviews. I would like to offer special thanks to the reviewers, the Review Committee Members, and to the Technical Program Committee Members for their dedicated service. I also would like to thank the Plenary Session Chair and the plenary speakers, the Forum Sessions Chair and the forum participants, the Invited Sessions Co-Chairs and the organizers of invited sessions, and the Tutorials and Short Courses Co-Chairs and their presenters, for their fi ne contributions to the technical program. Finally, my sincere thanks also go to the authors for their excellent contributions and participation in ISCAS 2004. Without them, this conference could not be the success it is.