Monthly Archives: August 2017

SPC Rules
IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest

A. GENERAL

1. Once every year, each IEEE Student Branch (SB) may hold a Student Paper Contest (SPC) under its own responsibility.
2. The winner(s) of each Branch Contest may compete for the Region 8 Contest, held within the Region limits. A Branch may submit one paper for every 100 branch members or part thereof, with a maximum of three papers.
3. However if the branch does not hold a student paper contest, a paper can be submitted by a student branch if the student branch counselor supports the paper and the paper is within the valid rules for submission.
4. At Region 8 Contest an international Jury, will grade the written papers without knowledge of the identity of the author and of his school. Jury will decide which papers will be accepted for presentation at the Region 8 SPC oral finals.
5. Only IEEE student members and IEEE graduate student members are allowed to be authors of the SPC papers. Each author has to be a member of an IEEE R8 Student Branch at the time of the original submission of the paper to the Branch Contest and a member (student or not) of the IEEE at the time of the oral presentation. The work presented has to be completed before the student receives the engineering degree that entitles him/her to start preparing a doctoral thesis and the submission of the paper to the Region 8 Contest must be completed within 12 months after graduation. A doctoral thesis is not considered.
6. Although the original paper – i.e. the paper that was submitted to the local Branch Contest
   – may be written in any language, the paper that is submitted to the Region 8 Contest should be in English. The oral presentation shall be in English, as well.
7. When entering a paper in the Region 8 Contest, each SB Counselor will provide a document certifying that condition 5 is fulfilled, giving the IEEE membership number(s) of the author(s), and stating during which year(s) after high school the work has been performed. Any other useful information concerning the work and background is welcome. This document should be attached to the Student Paper Cover Sheet (see “Author Guidelines on Paper Layout” and “Student Paper Cover Sheet”).
8. Finalists selected by the Jury will be invited to present their papers at one of the Region 8 Conferences. If acceptable to the organizers of the conference at which the oral finals take place, the papers that have been accepted for oral presentation will be published in the
   proceedings of that conference and possibly included in IEEE Xplore Database. Since the five finalist papers are being included in the conference proceedings as well as in IEEE Xplore Library, the rules will now allow that the name of the supervisor/mentor may be added, as an author, to the final version of the paper sent to the conference organisation. This does not change in any way the basic rule that the submitted paper is the work of the student. Electronic versions of the finalists’ papers will also be published in the IEEE Region 8 SAC web pages.
9. Travel expenses (train 2nd class, or plane economy class for very long distances) will be provided by the Region 8 Student Activities Fund to one author of each paper accepted by the Jury for oral presentation. Living expenses which may occur while attending the oral presentation may also be reimbursed; the guidelines for this reimbursement will be mailed to attendees before the presentation.
10. The IEEE Life Member Fund is supporting IEEER8 and awarding three prizes of 800,
    500 and 200 US Dollars for the first, second and third placed papers respectively. Furthermore, the Region 8 Student Activities Fund offers 250 US Dollars as the “Dick Poortvliet Award” to the branch where the winner comes from.
11. Published work is excluded from the Contest. Any paper subsequently published should mention an acknowledgement of the received award.

B. CHARACTER OF THE PAPER

1. Papers should cover technical and engineering aspects of a subject reasonably within or related to the areas with which the IEEE is concerned with.
2. The work need not be original in engineering content, but should be original in treatment and concise in coverage of the author’s contribution to the subject.

C. DOCUMENT LAYOUT

1. The paper must be typewritten on A4 size paper (210 mm × 297 mm), with the text width equal to 183 mm and the text height equal to 243.5 mm; a font size of 10 pt or larger should be used. The two-column IEEE Transactions style (with the space between columns equal to 4.1 mm) is required.
2. The paper should not exceed six (6) pages. Overlength papers will not be considered for the contest!
   D. PAPER AND DOCUMENTS SUBMISSION
3. Send papers by email to [email protected].
   It is required that the version of the paper sent to the Region 8 Contest does not show the identities of the authors and their educational establishments. The paper MUST be accompanied by the

•  Student Paper Cover Sheet (separate doc file), (see 23 below)
•  SB Counselor certification document from point 7 (separate scanned file), and
  signed IEEE Copyright Form.

1. Please see the submission deadline on the SAC website. Normally it is 1 December.

D. ORAL PRESENTATION

1. Those authors selected to give an oral presentation should develop a pleasant and logical presentation of the subject matter fitted to 15-20 minutes. The Jury will question each contestant for an additional period of 10 minutes typical.
2. An electronic presentation – based on Power Point, for instance – using a beamer (LCD data projector) is preferred. Additional presentation tools may be provided if a request is made and granted in advance. The presentation should not attempt to cover the entire paper, but rather to give a general idea and enlarge on one or two specific points.

E. GRADING

20. There shall be maximum five judges within Jury.

1. The contributions are graded as follows: written paper
   technical content: 45 points maximum,
   technical presentation: 25 points maximum, oral presentation: 30 points maximum.
2. A preliminary selection based on the written document may be made by the members of the jury,either if too many papers are submitted or if some papers do not reach the expected level or formal requirements.
   STUDENT PAPER COVER SHEET AND COUNSELOR CERTIFICATION DOCUMENT.
   Since the judges must handle the papers without knowledge of the identity of the author and his educational establishment, it is required that the paper itself show no such identification other than the title.
   The title, author(s)’ name(s) and IEEE membership number(s), corresponding author’s address, school, and Branch Counselor’s name must be shown on a removable cover sheet. The Counselor’s certification document should be removable too.
3. Student Paper Cover Sheet
   Answer concisely and completely the questions in the form below, and send it as a separate file (doc) together with the paper. Only the second part of the Cover Sheet, Section B, will be sent to Jury and will help in grading the paper.

Section A
School: Author(s), with their IEEE membership number(s):
Name, address, contact phone and e-mail of author to whom correspondence should beaddressed:
Name, address, contact phone and e-mail of Student Branch Counselor
Name, address, contact phone and e-mail of Student Branch Chair

Section B
This will be passed to the jury members and is an aid towards their judging of the paper.
Paper title:
What is the problem and why is it important?
What is the original contribution of this work? Be explicit.
Does this work check and / or extend previously reported work? What work? Give references. Be explicit.
How does this contribution compare to previously published work?
If the paper is to be submitted to one of the IEEE Transactions, which Transactions would be the most appropriate?

F. AUTHOR GUIDELINES ON PAPER LAYOUT
The following guidelines are suggested to assist grading by providing a uniform layout. In general, the paper should be organized as follows:

Title page. The title should consist of the minimum number of key words necessary to portray accurately the content of the paper. Reader’s interest is stimulated by a well-chosen title. The author’s name should not appear on the title page, nor should any other name of persons or schools.
Abstract. The abstract should not describe the paper, but should give in brief the essential facts of its content, for example, a brief statement of the problem or objective and a concise summary of results or conclusions, touching upon methods or other details only if they are unique or if they are of some particular significance. The abstract should be no longer than 100 words.
Introduction. The introduction should lead to the development of the subject so that the reader may obtain a clear understanding of the significance of the paper. This often can be done by giving briefly the state of the art as background. Then bring out the added advantages of the method of approach and emphasize the importance of the results or conclusions.
Body. The main argument of the development of the subject is carried out in the body of the paper, complete with supporting data. The argument should proceed in a logical sequence according to a prepared outline. The writing should be in the third person. Supporting data and results can often be presented most effectively as curves, charts or tables. Well-known abbreviations may be used in the text but should be defined where used the first time, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Generally, the use of abbreviations should be confined to not duplicate text matter.
Conclusion. The conclusions are often considered the most important part of a paper. They should be stated concisely in a separate section at the end of the paper. If there are three or more conclusions, greater emphasis can be obtained by numbering each conclusion and setting it off in a separate paragraph.
Tables. Tables should be numbered consecutively using Roman numerals. Small tabulations or listings may be made in the text where necessary for continuity. Each table should be titled by giving a brief description as a heading following the table number at the top. Ditto marks should not be used in tables, but brackets may be used to group information common to several lines.
Diagrams. Three types of diagrams may be used: photographs, oscillograms, line drawings. Keep reading matter on illustrations to a minimum; include it in the captions. Portions of illustrations may be identified by letters and explained in the captions. Whenever feasible, combine several curves on the same co-ordinates. Their identifying letters or numbers should be in clear spaces between cross-section lines. If it is necessary to place data over cross-section lines, erase these lines.
Appendices. Detailed mathematical proofs, development of equations, and examples which are subordinate to the main argument in the body of a paper, but not essential to following the argument, should be treated in appendices. References are made in the text to details in the appendices. Main equations as they are developed should be numbered consecutively, with the number in parentheses opposite the equation in the right hand margin.
References. Any information or development taken from books, periodicals or courses, i.e. from any external source, should be clearly referenced in the text and a suitable reference list should be appended to enable the reader to consult those sources. References should be numbered consecutively and should follow the form shown below:

For a periodical: R. N. Hall, “Power rectifiers and transistors,” Proc. IRE, vol. 40, pp. 1512–1519, November 1952.

For a book: W. A. Edison, Vacuum Tube Oscillators, Wiley, New York, pp. 170–171, 1948.

G. JURY GUIDELINES ON GRADING THE PAPER

The following criteria are suggested to provide a uniform grading standard:

      Do the authors present their independent work?

      Is the significant amount of presented work new? Do the authors present a novel interpretation of some existing work?

      Is the subject matter of substantial technical content and is it presented at an acceptably advanced level?

      Is the 100-word abstract concise, informative and accurate?

Does the written presentation include a satisfactory introduction which properly orients the reader with respect to the general area with which the paper deals ? Does the concluding portion of the paper summarize the reader’s impression of what the work has accomplished ? Are the conclusions supported by evidence?
Does the exposition (and analysis which may be involved) proceed in an orderly and logical manner? Is the paper self-contained?

     Does the author exhibit ingenuity and resourcefulness in methods of presentation, choice of illustrations, use of analogies and the like?

     Is the paper technically accurate?

     Is an unmistakable meaning conveyed with acceptable brevity?

     Is the format and typesetting quality of the paper appropriate?

IEEE Region 8 SPC 2015 – I phase results
SELECTION OF IEEE R8 STUDENT PAPER CONTEST 2015 ORAL FINALISTS
IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest 2015 was announced late June 2014. The deadline to submit Student Branches best papers to R8 contest was December 15, 2014.

Within the SPC 2015 campaign, the following activities were realized, mainly by emails:

• Late June 2014 a SPC 2015 email call with essential SPC data and rules was sent to all R8 SB chairs.
• The same email was also sent to all SB counselors.
• Different versions of the SPC calls were sent to SB chairs and counselors three more times.
• Section chairs, Section students’ representatives and student activities officers also obtained basic information about SPC, asking them to support and co-organize SPC activities. It was especially emphasized to connect when possible local SPC contests with other IEEE R8 Sections and Chapters activities.

Several other single activities were also realized in order to make SPC 2015 more successful.

Before the deadline 21 IEEE student papers were submitted, accepted and graded.
SPC 2015 contestants were from 16 Sections and 19 different Student Branches/Institutions:

• Carlos III University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
• University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
• Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
• Dublin City University, Dublin, United Kingdom and Ireland
• Saints Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
• University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
• Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
• Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University (LETI), St. Petersburg, Russia
• University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Higher School of Techology & Computer Science (ESTI), Enicarthage, Tunisia
• Sudan University of Science and Technology, Karthoum, Sudan
• Alpen-Adria University of Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria
• University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
• University of Nis, Nis, Serbia and Montenegro
• Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Dubai, UAE
• Catholique Univ of Louvain (Jt. CAS-004/ED-015), Louvain, Benelux
• KU Leuven, Leuven, Benelux

The first phase of the IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest – selection of the best five papers for Oral Finals – finished beginning of May 2015. During the I phase the International Jury:
– Prof. Carlos Lopez-Barrio, Spain, Chair ([email protected])
– Prof. Andrzej Pacut, Poland
– Prof. Samir Shaheen, Egypt,
– Prof. Denis Gillet, Switzerland
– Prof. Luis Torres, Spain
anonymously graded all papers. The contributions were graded as follows:
– Written paper evaluation:
* 45 points maximum for the technical and engineering content,
* 25 points maximum for the paper content presentation.

Jury selected the following five papers (in alphabetical order of the first author’s first name) for the SPC 2015 Oral Finals:

• Ian Kavanagh (93179403): “Developing a Method of Moments Based Indoor Propagation Model”, Dublin City University SB, UK and Ireland Section.
• Kinyua F. Wachira (92229379): “Corrective Term Usage in the Improvement of Gradient- Based Bayer CFA Demosaicking Algorithms”, University of Nairobi, Kenya Student Section, Kenya Section.
• Quentin Cappart (93213500), Adrien Thonet (93269007): “The World Migration Network: rankings, groups and gravity models”, Catholic University of Louvain SB, Benelux.
• Wouter Diels (93270483), Alexander Standaert (93270504): “Design of 1Mbit RRAM memory
  to replace eFlash”, KU Leuven SB, Benelux Section
• Žiga Lesar (93253750): “Real-time ray casting of volumetric data”, University of Ljubljana SB, Slovenia Section.

The first phase of the IEEE R8 SPC – selection of the best five papers for Oral Finals – finished May 12, 2015.
IEEE Region 8 SPC 2015 – II phase results

ORAL FINALS, SELECTION OF WINNERS AND WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT
Second phase of the Region 8 SPC 2015 – Oral Finals – was organized in Salamanca, Spain, on Wednesday September 9, 2015, during the EUROCON 2015 IEEE Conference (http://eurocon2015.usal.es/).

SPC finalists obtained up to 30 points maximum, depending on the quality of the paper presentations and given answers. Oral Finals session was well attended. The papers Power Point introductions were well prepared and presented (all within permitted 15 minutes). There were quite a number of questions, both from Jury members and from audience. The finalists’ answers were
very good.

When session finished, Jury had a private discussion and awarded three prizes, from the IEEE Life Member Fund, to:

FIRST PRICE: Diploma and 800 USD (cash award amount):
Wouter Diels (93270483), Alexander Standaert (93270504): “Design of 1Mbit RRAM memory to replace eFlash”, KU Leuven, Belgium.

KU Leuven Student Branch, from which the I prize winner of the SPC 2015 came from, will receive the Region 8 “Dick Poortvliet Award”, an amount of USD 250.

SECOND PRICE: Diploma and 500 USD (cash award amount):
Ian Kavanagh (93179403): “Developing a Method of Moments Based Indoor Propagation Model”, Dublin City University, Ireland.

THIRD PRICE: Diploma and 200 USD (cash award amount):
Žiga Lesar (93253750): “Real-time ray casting of volumetric data”, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Congratulations to all the winners.
The official recognition of the winners, finalists and SPC Jury was organized during the EUROCON 2015 Gala Dinner, September 10, 2015. SPC 2015 Coordinator Carlos A. López Barrio and EUROCON 2015 General Chair, Emilio Corchado, introduced all the SPC finalists, members of the Jury and pronounced the three winners. All finalists also obtained certificates that their papers
were selected within the five best SPC 2015 papers.

All finalists papers were included in EUROCON 2015 Proceedings and in IEEE Explore digital library.
After sending the SPC final results to IEEE services, the official prizes (diploma and money) are to be sent by IEEE Services to winners within the next period.

Professor Carlos A. López Barrio,
IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest 2015 coordinator
October 9th, 2015

SPC 2015 Finalists were from SBs/Sections
– Dublin City Univ, UK & IRL
– Nairobi Univ, Kenya
– Cath Univ Louvain, Benelux
– KU Leuven, Benelux
– Ljubljana Univ, Slovenia