Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society [APES] APES President's  Report for The 2nd Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society Meeting to be held on November 2, 1999, at 18:30-20:00 at Zhejiang University

I would like to report to you on the activities of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society since the Inaugural Meeting of the Society held during the 1^st Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium at City University of Hong Kong, in January 1997.

For the benefit of the new and potential members let me introduce briefly the Provisional Council of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society. The Council was elected by the sixty two researchers from the Asia-Pacific region, who attended the Inaugural APES Meeting, as follows:

A note about the establishment of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society has appeared in the Proceedings of the 1^st Symposium (published by Springer-Verlag, Singapore, in January 1998) and the EPR Newsletter (vol.8/no.4, 1997).

Activities of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society in the reporting period include the following:

1. Organization of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposia

It is most encouraging that we have been able to continue organizing the Symposia under the auspices of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society. Due to the dedicated effort of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), under the skilful leadership of Prof. Yuanzhi XU, the 2^nd Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium (APES'99) is now being held at Zhejiang University. Members of the APES Council have been involved in various organizational aspects of the APES'99, either directly (see section 8B below) or in advisory capacity as members of the International Advisory Committee (IAC). May I take this opportunity to congratulate Professor Xu and his team on the commitment and hard work.

Preliminary talks have been carried out by the President during his visits (see section 8 below) with the potential organizers to hold the APES'01 in Japan and APES'03 in India. If there is sufficient interest a workshop/training course on experimental and theoretical aspects of EPR/ESR could be organized during the APES'03 in Bangalore. A separate point on the Agenda for this Meeting is to decide on the site and organization of the next Symposium.
 

2. Creation of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society WWW Home-page

In order to facilitate communication between EPR/ESR researchers not only within the Asia-Pacific region but, to a certain extent, on a 'Global?/i> scale, a WWW home-page of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society has been created in January 1998. The APES Web site may help us achieving the Society's major objectives, i.e. to carry out the activities aimed at: (1) improving the efficiency of applications of the EPR/ESR techniques and (2) facilitating the communication between EPR/ESR researchers in the Asia-Pacific region. We hope that through the INTERNET the members will get updated information on the EPR/ESR related activities in our region, whereas the Society will get valuable feedback from its members. We expect also to attract more EPR/ESR researchers to join the Society. Special thanks are due to Dr. Yau-yuen Yeung, the Society's Secretary and Webmaster, for his effort on this project. Please visit us on: http://www.ied.edu.hk/has/phys/apepr and send your comments either to me or Dr Yeung. A demonstration of the APES Web site from CD-ROM has been arranged at the APES'99 Office.
 
3. Affiliation of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society by the International EPR/ESR Society

Our efforts to achieve affiliation of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society (APES) by the International EPR/ESR Society (IES) has come to fruition in March, 1999, when the IES Executive Committee has accepted the APES as an Affiliate Society of the IES. This brings us closer towards fulfilling the IES Mission, i.e. uniting all EPR/ESR researchers. The recognition of the APES by the IES - a respected and mature international professional body, is a great honour to all EPR/ESR researchers from the Asia-Pacific region.

Special thanks are due to Professor John Pilbrow, then the Secretary and at present the President of the IES, for his help in achieving the affiliation and continuing support for the APES on the international scene.
 

4. Formation of the Local and National EPR/ESR Users' Groups

For the APES to become a strong and efficient organization, which is the ultimate goal of the APES Council, the Society's activities must be coordinated both internationally and locally. One way to achieve this goal is the top-down approach and as the President of the Society I have tried to do my best in this regard. The other way is the bottom-up approach, i.e. the grass root support, which I believe is most important for any Society. Therefore I would like to encourage all EPR/ESR researchers within the Asia-Pacific region to join together and form localEPR/ESR Users? Groups in their areas.

The membership of local EPR/ESR Users?Groups should be open to all researchers from the Asia-Pacific region who are active in the EPR/ESR area or have an interest in the applications of the EPR/ESR techniques. The EPR/ESR Users?Groups would provide a forum for informal meetings of all interested researchers and would enable effective sharing of information about current research and/or creating opportunities for collaboration. The idea of forming the EPR/ESR Users?Groups has been well implemented in a number of places in Europe. On the one hand, I am pleased to inform you that the Hong Kong EPR/ESR Users?Group has been formed at the Inaugural Meeting, held at the City University, on 17 January 1998. However, on the other hand I have to admit that due to the pressure of current commitments not much has been achieved since then. I would seek the views from the country representatives and all members on the viability of the idea of forming the EPR/ESR Users?Groups in their home countries.

If the idea is accepted, then the next step would be to form the national EPR/ESR Groups like those existing in most European countries with a sizeable EPR/ESR community. The national EPR/ESR Groups should be in charge of the local organization and also responsible for handling the financial affairs of the future Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposia. The logistic support for and coordination of the organization of the future Symposia will be provided by the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society. The national EPR/ESR Groups could also directly elect their representatives to the Society's Council.
 

5. Drafting the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society Constitution

The APES Draft Constitution has been worked out by the APES Secretary and the APES President on the basis of the IES and ISMAR Constitutions. It has been made available on the APES Web site for members comments. At this stage several organizational and technical questions must be decided upon by the members to give the APE Society a proper structure. Copies of the APES Draft Constitution have been distributed at the APES?9 Registration area. A separate point on the Agenda for this Meeting is to discuss the APES Draft Constitution. Let me briefly outline two major items for discussion and decision here.
 
6. Procedure for elections of the APES Council: Several options of carrying out formal elections have been considered in the meantime, however, finally the elections have been postponed until the 2^nd APES Meeting to be held during the APES?9. The Membership drive carried out in January-February 1999 (see section 6 below) has also provided a feasibility study on the effectiveness of both airmail and email form of communication with members and potential members. The study has indicated serious difficulties in reaching a great number of the researchers from the Asia-Pacific region due to incorrect/outdated email addresses and/or local networks capacity to handle large attachment files. On the other hand, postal mailing of the materials during the Membership drive, to researchers from the Asia-Pacific region for whom no email addresses were available, has also resulted in a large number of returned mail due to incorrect/outdated addresses. Hence, it appears impractical at present to carry out a ballot by the electronic or conventional mail. The option of carrying out formal elections during the APE Symposia seems the most practical one for the time being and the Council will seek the members?endorsement in this regard.
7. Subscription to the APES: Various options exist, namely: (a) a combined subscription payable via the APES Treasurer to the IES and including a small subscription to the APES, (b) a small subscription to the APES, and (c) a free APES membership, i.e. no subscription for the APES members. In the case (b) and (c) the subscription to the IES would be an independent matter for the IES members. In the case (a) and (b) the amount of subscription needs to considered. The option (c) seems the most practical one for the time being and the Council will seek the members?endorsement in this regard.

In view of the recently proposed revisions to the IES Constitution published in the EPR Newsletter (vol.10 /no.2, 1999-2000), it may be necessary to introduce some amendments to the APES Draft Constitution. Note that this issue of the EPR Newsletter has unfortunately been received by many IES members in the Asia-Pacific region only at the end of October 1999, whereas the deadline for returning the voting paper as well as the ballot for the Election of New IES Officers was stated as 30 September 1999.
 
8. Membership Drive

The membership of the Society is open to all researchers from the Asia-Pacific region who are active in the EPR/ESR area or have an interest in the applications of the EPR/ESR techniques. A strong Society would suit well our regional needs and ensure that a better coordination of our efforts can be achieved. In order to strengthen our membership the APES Membership Form has been worked out and made available on the APES Web site. It was dispatched by email and airmail to all the addresses in the APES database (see section 7 below) in mid-January and February, 1999. Copies of the APES Membership Form and the APES President's message were also distributed as an attachment with the 2nd Announcement for the APES'99 dispatched by the LOC for APES?9 in late December 1999. This membership drive has generated 57 new applications for the APES membership and resulted in a number of updated entries. The current figures on the APES membership are provided in section 7.
 
9. Establishment of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society Database

Work on updating the APES Database, which includes all known to us names of the EPR/ESR researchers from the Asia-Pacific region, is an on-going process. The original Database, created for the 1^st APE Symposium, has been used to distribute the 1^st Announcement of the 2^nd Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium (APES'99). Two major updates of the APES Database were carried out: (i) in February-June 1999 - to incorporate the data extracted from the Membership Forms received in response to the Membership drive (see section 6 above), and (ii) in October 1999 - to tidy up the structure and abbreviations used as well as to incorporate the data received from various sources in the meantime. The most current version of the APES Database has been put on display at the APES?9 Registration area for the members and potential members perusal. To enable efficient update of the APES Database entries, two forms have been provided: (1) the APES Database - Data Correction Form - for the current members, and (2) the APES Membership Form - for the new members. The APES?9 participants are invited to check their entries in the APES Database and fill in the forms as appropriate.

The current figures on the APES membership are as follows: total 118 members, including 62 Founding members and 56 new members of various categories. The total number of entries in the APES Database stands at 1261, however, many of the entries may be incorrect or outdated. In any case, it appears that there is a substantial potential to increase the APES membership.
 

10. APES President's Visits

(A) The President has visited (using his own funds) three EPR/ESR groups in India during 25 August - 5 Sept, 1998, namely, (i) Dr K.P. Mishra, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, (ii) Prof. S.V. Bhat, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and (iii) Dr S.K. Gupta, National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi. Useful talks about future activities of the APES and possible collaboration have been carried out. Dr Gupta has offered help with getting the names of EPR/ESR researchers from India.

Note: Similar updated namelists of the EPR/ESR researchers have been obtained from China (Prof. Xu YZ), Japan (Prof. Kawamori A.) and Korea (Prof. Choh S.H.).

(B) An Executive Meeting was arranged by Prof. Xu Y.Z., the Chairman of the LOC for the APES'99, with Prof. Kawamori A., the APES Vice-President, and the APES President, in Hangzhou during 10-12 September, 1999. The purpose of this Meeting was to discuss with the LOC members various matters related to organization of the APES'99 and to visit the Symposium site. We were impressed by the facilities to be offered to the participants of the APES'99. Thanks are due to Prof. Xu for the hospitality during the visit and covering the local costs (the airfare for the APES Vice-President and the APES President has been covered from private funds).
 

11. Future APES Activities and Events

• Information network: We would like to keep our members informed about the EPR/ESR related activities within the Asia-Pacific region. Any relevant information may be included in the APES home-page under 'News & Events?/i>. Please send the materials to the APES Secretary, Dr. Yau-yuen Yeung, at <yyyeung@ied.edu.hk>.
• Directory of EPR/ESR centers within the Asia-Pacific region: We plan to compile a listing of the useful information, e.g. available spectrometers, major research interests and projects, etc., for various EPR/ESR centers within the Asia-Pacific region. For this purpose a separate section has been included in the APES Membership Form. Hence, the relevant information may be extracted from the APES Membership Forms received so far and made available on the APES Web site. However, more complete data would be required for a comprehensive Directory of EPR/ESR centers. More support from our members is needed to successfully complete this task.
• Guidelines for presentation of EPR/ESR data: Since the Recommendations for EPR/ESR Nomenclature and Conventions for Presenting Experimental Data in Publications has been published (H. Kon, Pure & Appl. Chem.61, 2195 (1989)) no development in this regard has been made. This Recommendations dealt only with the spin S=1/2 systems. It would be most worthwhile to coordinate international efforts in order to unify the various ways of data presentation as well as the nomenclature used for the parameters and operators used in the EPR/ESR area. The existing abundance of the ways of data presentation often leads to confusion at present.
• Establishment of the International EPR Research and Data Centre: This is rather a far-reaching goal. The President's efforts to obtain financial support via local grant applications have so far been unsuccessful. Moral support from the APES members and the IES as well as suggestions on other sources of funding are most welcome. A brief description of the aims and structure of the International EPR Research and Data Centre is available from the APES President on request.

President

The Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society

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