Announcements

June 9, 2003
September 30, 2003
November 24, 2003
December 22, 2003
May 7, 2004
June 1, 2004
June 2, 2004
June 22, 2004
July 1, 2004

September 21, 2004

November 10, 2004

June 9, 2003

Dear all,

This is the first unofficial for PECS 2004, which will be held at the El Castellano Hotel (http://www.elcastellano.com) in the city of Mérida, in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, from October 18 to 22, 2004. In the hotel websiten you can find local information.
Known as the "White City", the city of Mérida was founded in the 16th century, and is the capital of the state of Yucatán. It is a very attractive colonial city, with beautiful palaces and churches, and is located in the heart of the Mayan area, with most of the major Mayan ruin sites within a radius of 100 km. In fact a night visit (with a "light and sound" show) to Uxmal, the major Mayan site in the area, is proposed as the PECS excursion.

In a couple of weeks the new PECS website (http://www.pecs-conference.org/) will be uploaded, keeping the relevant info from the 2002 version.

Regarding the mailing list; I kept the same from Hans. The new address to be added (you and/or your colleagues) or removed is: lst pecs@pumas.iingen.unam.mx
If you want to suscribe or unsuscribe, please send to that address a message whose body is: subscribe lst-pecs username@yourserver.whatever_else or unsuscribe if it is the case.

I will send soon the official first announcement when I solve a few things (e.g., journal to publish the proceedings, title of the conference,...)

Best Regards,

Paulo Salles

September 30, 2003

Dear colleagues,

This is the second announcement for the 12th International Biennial Conference on Physics of Estuaries and Coastal Seas (PECS-2004). The conference will be held in the City of Merida, in the Yucatan Peninsula, in Mexico, from October 18 to 22, 2004.

We have now a first version of the New PECS’04 website, at
http://www.pecs-conference.org/

The preregistration section in the page will be operating soon.

Most of the following is already in the page, but the most important information is:

1) The deadline for pre-registration and abstract submission is December 31st, 2003.

2) The notes of acceptance will be sent to you by March 31, 2004

3) Following previous formats, all participants will stay at the same hotel: Hotel El Castellano. Hotel information will be uploaded in the page soon. The hotel fee will include breakfast, taxes and tips, and the price has not been determined yet.

4) The conference fee has not been precisely determined yet, but will oscillate around $330 USD, including all lunches, coffee breaks, Poster Refreshments, excursion, conference dinner, and the volume of proceedings.

5) The publication of the abstract most likely will be in Ocean Dynamics, following the good experience with PECS’02.

As soon as we have determined the fees and the publication journal, I will send the third announcement.

Best Regards,
On behalf of the PECS’04 organizing committee,
Paulo Salles.

November 24, 2003

Dear Colleagues,

1) The pre-registration page will be uploaded today or tomorrow. Please check the website http://www.pecs-conference.org/, and you will find “Pre-registration” on the left. Remember that you have until DECEMBER 31ST TO PRE-REGISTER AND SEND YOUR ABSTRACT

2) I am still working on the final conference fee and hotel costs, which will oscillate around $330 USD and $110 USD/day, respectively. I will have the definite figure within two weeks.

3) I am in advanced negotiations for the papers publication in Ocean Dynamics.

Best Regards,
Paulo Salles.

December 22, 2003

Dear colleagues,

Some important announcements:

1) First of all, our apologies for having some problems with the pre-registration server. The Servers people just told me that a hard drive failed on wednesday… and I am trying to believe them. Apparently, everything will be running smoothly tomorrow. So please register if you haven’t succeeded yet. The abstracts, however, have been received successfully.

2) The conference and hotel fee costs will be:

a. Hotel: $95/$110 USD (single/double including continental breakfast) if paid before June 11 2004, and $115/$130 USD if paid after that date.

b. Conference registration fee (including lunches, coffee breaks, poster refreshments, ice breaker party, “light and sound” excursion to Mayan Uxmal ruins, conference dinner in a colonial Hacienda, group photo, bag and binder, a volume with extended abstracts and the proceedings with full papers): $320 USD

Following the suggestion of some members of the PECS steering committee, there will be only one fee for hotel+conference. Therefore, for 4 nights (18th to 22nd), the cost will be $700/$760 USD (single/double) if paid before June 11 2004, and $780/$840 if paid after June 11. The details of payment information and methods will be given shortly.

3) Given the vacation period, understanding the end-of-the year craziness, THE DEADLINE FOR PRE-REGISTRATION AND ABSTRACT SUBMISSION IS EXTENDED TO JANUARY 23 2004.

4) Since the university is now officially closed, this information will only be posted in the website in early January.

I hope you all merry Christmas and all the best for 2004.

Regards,
Paulo Salles.

May 7, 2004

Dear all,

The acceptance notifications have all been sent. Sorry for the delay, but many had not pre-registered, or some pre-registered had not send the abstracts...

At this point in time comes the actual registration, which is due by June 11 (with no late fees).

The information for the payment is the following:

BANK NAME: J P MORGAN CHASE
ACCOUNT: 001-01693118
SWIFT: TCBKUS44
ABA TRANSFER: 113-000-609
ABA CHECKS: 111-001-150
TO THE NAME OF: UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTONOMA DE MEXICO
CURRENCY: US DOLARS
ADDRESS: P.O. BOX 2558, MAIN STREET HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A.

Important Notes:
- It is very important that you send via Fax (+52 (55) 56.23.35.07) the Transfer voucher, so we can get the money from this University account.
- The ammount shown below is what has to be received. Any tranfer charges have to be covered by the sender.

THE FEES (copied from the PECS website, with a correction for the case of double bedroom occupancy, which was wrongly higher than the single occupancy):

"Following the suggestion of some members of the PECS steering committee, there will be only one fee for hotel+conference. Therefore, for 4 nights (18th to 22nd), the cost will be $700/$580 (single/double)if paid before June 11 2004, and $780/$660 if paid after June 11."

Please be advized that double occupancy fees assume that two persons will pay that fare each. It is not responsibility of the organizers to find matches for this occupancy. We may assits upon request.

If the participant will spend more nights, please indicate and add $73/day or $87/day (single or double with no breakfast nor lunch).

Please indicate how many nights are being paid.

THE WEBSITE WILL BE UPDATED (WITH THIS INFO + HOTEL/TRAVEL AGENCY LINKS + SUPPORT GRANT STATUS +...) EARLY NEXT WEEK.

Best Regards,

The PECS 2004 organizing committee.

June 1, 2004

Dear all,

This message is just to clarify a few points regarding the payment, and trying to consolidate the answers of the questions we have received:

1) The address I posted is in Houston, because it's the address of the bank were the UNAM foreign currency account resides.

2) The payment for extra nights will also be made to us. The costs I posted are for the room (double is more expensive, but is paid by two people). This fee does not include meals.

3) As I posted in the website and previous emails, the double occupancy arrangements are in principle responsibility of the participants. If some participants pay double without knowing in advance who is his/her roommate, we will make the assignments.

4) For those who plan to occupy a double room with an accompanying person, the fee of the roommate is reduced, depending on what he/she will require. For instance, this person may want only room, breakfast and Uxmal trip/dinner, in which case the fee will be less. Please let us know the requirements for these special arrangements.

5) So far, we have received only three copies of transfers. I know most of you will pay the last day (it is human nature), and others will pay late. That is okay. In any case, it is very important we receive (via fax or email) the copy of the transfer, because it is the only proof we have that you have paid. We need that in advance because the account I gave you is not exclusive to PECS, and then we have to track the money with the information shown in the voucher. Not having the voucher is the same as not having the payment.

6) We will issue for each of you a receipt for the total amount transferred. In case needed we can also issue an overhead letter with a more details. Let us know in advance if you need such letter

7) We have not have luck with the financial support we asked for. One agency declined, and the other has no date yet to notify… It seems we have not succeeded in that.

8) The hotel already mentioned me that the tips (for bellboys and room keepers) are not

included. I will let you know what the customary tip is.

Well, I think it is all for know.

Regards,

Paulo Salles, on behalf of the PECS 2004 organizing committee.

June 2, 2004

Dear all,

Please remember that the extended abstract are due by June 31st.
The instructions are in the website (www.pecs-conference.org).
The recommended tips (see note 8 below) are:
bellboys: $2 US (or 1.8=2 EUR!) or 20 mexican pesos in arrival and departure room keepers: $1 US or 10 pesos /day.

The above is the new information.

In addition, I had many bounces from the email I sent yesterdays, so I am posting again:

--------------------
This message is just to clarify a few points regarding the payment, and trying to consolidate the answers of the questions we have received:

1) The address I posted is in Houston, because it's the address of the bank were the UNAM foreign currency account resides.

2) The payment for extra nights will also be made to us. The costs I posted are for the room (double is more expensive, but is paid by two people). This fee does not include meals.

3) As I posted in the website and previous emails, the double occupancy arrangements are in principle responsibility of the participants. If some participants pay double without knowing in

advance who is his/her roommate, we will make the assignments.

4) For those who plan to occupy a double room with an accompanying person, the fee of the roommate is reduced, depending on what he/she will require. For instance, this person may want only room, breakfast and Uxmal trip/dinner, in which case the fee will be less. Please let us know the requirements for these special arrangements.

5) So far, we have received only three copies of transfers. I know most of you will pay the last day (it is human nature), and others will pay late. That is okay. In any case, it is very important we receive (via fax or email) the copy of the transfer, because it is the only proof we have that you have paid. We need that in advance because the account I gave you is not exclusive to PECS, and then we have to track the money with the information shown in the voucher.

Not having the voucher is the same as not having the payment.

6) We will issue for each of you a receipt for the total amount transferred. In case needed we can also issue an overhead letter with more details. Let us know in advance if you need such letter.

7) We have not have luck with the financial support we asked for. One agency declined, and the other has no date yet to notify… It seems we have not succeeded in that.

8) The hotel already mentioned me that the tips (for bellboys and room keepers) are not included. I will let you know what the customary tip is.

Well, I think it is all for know.
Regards,

Paulo Salles.

June 22, 2004

July 1, 2004

Dear all,

I just received an email notification from the last funding agency that had not responded,saying that they approved some money "to cover the travel fares of participants from developing countries".

Following, some text from the funding agency:
"The ICTP contribution covers travel expenses for foreign participants and/or lecturers from the region, excluding the home country. It is assumed that speakers and participants from developed countries will be able to find support to cover their travel expenses. As such conferences are useful in exposing young researchers and students to the frontiers of their fields, the ICTP recommends that a substantial part of the funds requested be used to cover the travel fares for participants rather than for lecturers."

Those of you who intend to apply for financial support are kindly requested to send us (to Gregorio or myself) a CV, publication list and a letter including a statement why and how much support (partial/full) is needed.

Given the date today, and keeping in mind that we are on vacation from July 10 to 31st, please send your application as soon as possible.
Notes of acceptance will be sent in early August.

Regards,

Paulo Salles
On behalf of the PECS2004 organizing committee.

September 21, 2004

Dear PECS 2004 participants,

First of all, we have tried to remove all the emails from potential participants who have canceled. Please disregard this message (or let us know) if you already canceled your trip to Merida.

The conference is approaching and we are getting ready.

We have a few announcements to make:

1. Posters:

The posters have to be 90 cm wide by 120 cm high. Following the PECS “tradition”, there will a best poster competition among all displayed posters. Each conference participant will have one vote, ballot papers will be found in the participants’ bags. The prizes (scientific books) will be awarded during the conference dinner on Thursday evening.

2. Equipment for presentations:

We will provide one data projector with laptop and two overhead projectors. We are planning to have only one screen. Please respond if you have any special request (slide projector, another screen,…).

3. List of participants:

Soon alter the September 15th deadline, we will send you and post in the website the definitive list of participants, with the sessions and schedules of presentations for each of you.

4. Flights/airport/pickup/taxi ($80)

We will try to pick you up at the airport, specially those flights with many PECS participants, so please send us your flight information. In case we do not have your flight information, or if we cannot be at the airport for your flight, a taxi to the El Castellano Hotel will cost you around $80 pesos (or $8 USD).

5. Tips

It is customary to tip in Mexico. For instance:

Bell Boy: $1-2 USD

Room keeper: $1 USD / day

Restaurants/Bars: 10-15%

6. Payments in Merida:

For those of you who are, for some reason, paying in Merida (partial fee or any difference), we are asking the payment to be in cash (USD or EUR).

7. Deadlines

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NOT SENT THEIR EXTENDED ABSTRACTS AND OR HOTEL BOOKING DATES, REMEMBER THAT THE DEADLINE IS SEPTEMBER 15TH.

Best regards,

Paulo Salles.

On behalf of the PECS2004 organizing committee.

November 10, 2004