Twelve years and a couple of months after having written the Editorial to the first issue of News Brief (the production pro-

cess took somewhat longer in those days and it was several months before my long- thou

a”

ht-over editorial actually appeared in

print , I now am faced with the prospect of prehring for the first issue of Volume 100.

Although things have changed in many way$ since that first issue; there have been fewer changes since the Editorial of the first issue of Volume 80 published in May 1989. The first issue was produced laboriously using a golf-ball IBM typewriter by a patient secretary; by 1989, things had progressed by way of a primeval word-processor to the deskCtop publishing method now used

and Mike Spencer had joined me as Asso- CiatelEditor. Although many of the original team1 of correspondents have by now made way for others, many of the current teams had been recruited in 1989. A further major change since 1989 has been the laundh of the green issue of Applied Cata- lysis (Applied Catalysis B: Environmental) and the recruitment of Kieran Hodnett as Editor of its News Brief Section. What has chan$ed little since the first issue is the philosophy: the ideas which we had de-

cidedltotry out in launching News Brief and which I summarised in my first Editorial still remaih very current: we do not aim to pro- vide trade secrets, to describe how cata-

lyst X his manufactured or to provide expla- nations of facts which have been puzzling you fc$r years; we still provide the majority

of oui information from published articles, working on the assumption that most of our readers cannot possibly read every journal or trade-publication related to cata- lysis. We also still rely heavily on material

supplied not only by our very faithful corre- spondents but also by readers, If you haven’t yet supplied an item on your fa- vourite subject, why not do k now?

A number of new ideas have been laun- ched over the years, some of which have been successful, others not. Tail-pieces still continue to appear and have become a popular feature with our readers. (If you still do not knowwho is behind some of the

pseudonyms, consult the Editorial of the

News Brief Section of Applied Catalysis 50 (1)) We originally intended to includesum- maries the work on catalysis in various different countries or even in particular la- boratories but such items have not ap- peared as regularlye as I sould have liked; I am therefore currently trying to reestab- lish this feature and should like to encour- age those of you who feel that some aspect of the activities in your laboratory or country could be of interest to your col-

leagues in other places to please send me some details. One of the most successful features has been the Calendar of Forth- coming Eventswhich is now used by many organisers of events to avoid clashes with other meetings in the same area of interest,

even though some overlap does occur; if you are in doubt about the meetings planned in a particular period, do not hesi- tate to contact me to find the latest situation in a particular period, remembering that my information can be up to two months ahead of given in the latest Calendar.

That brings me, in conclusion, to two other changes which have occurred since the last Editorial: my address and the ad- vent of e-mail. Although e-mail was gaining popularity in 1989, it had not yet reached general use in Twente, where I then was. In Limerick, my new location (where I dare not use a bicycle and where roses would

applidd catalysis A: General Volume 100 No. 1 - 1 July 1993

N3

not grow on the window sill of our apart- ment!), e-mail is reasonably well estab- lished and this allows me to communicate with many of those involved with News Brief, not only the editorial staff in Elsevier but also correspondents and other con- tributors. So if you have an e-mail connec- tion ‘and would like to send me contribu- tion$ by that method, please do so, as it enables me to edit and redirect material to the editorial office very quickly. And you can also e-mail me to find out about the latest Calendar entries for a particular peri- od. iFinally, remember that you can also receive an e-mail version of Catalysis Pi- peline from Elsevier; it is the intention in duet course to include the Calendar of

Forthcoming Events in this mailing so get your e-mail connection lined up!

JULIAN ROSS

Cathlysls Society of Japan Awards

At the Spring Annual Meeting of the Catalysis Society of Japan (CSJ), held in Tokyo on 1st and 2nd April 1993, the Cata- lysis Society of Japan Awards were given

to Professor T. lnui of Kyoto University for his research on the synthesis of metallosili- cata catalysts and their application and to Professor Y. Ono of the Tokyo Institute of Technology for his research on the acid- base properties and catalytic functions of zeoljtes. The Society Awards for Young Researchers were given to Dr. K. Asakura of the University of Tokyo for the dynamic analysis of catalyst surfaces by in-situ EXAFS, to Dr. F. Ozawa of Hokkaido University for the development of new catalyst reactions on the basis of palladium complex chemistry, and to Dr. S. Nakata of Chiyoda Kako Kensetsu Co. Ltd. for his

research on the structural chemistry of catalysts by solid state NMR.

The CSJ Awards for Technological Achievements were awarded to Drs. Y. Fu- kuoka, H. Nagahara and M. Konishi of Asahi Kasei Co. Ltd. for their development of a catalyst for partial hydrogenation of benzene and to Drs. M. Ueshima, H. Tsuneki and Y. Shimasaki for their devel- opment of a solid acid-base catalyst for production of ethylenimine. (The prestig- ious CSJ Award for Technical Develop- ment was also given to both these indus- trial processes on 29th March 1993). The CSJ Awards for Contributions were ghen to Professor A. Tai of the Himeji Institute of Technology for his research on heteroge- neous asymmetric catalysts and for his contributions to the Society’s activities and to Dr. N. Nojiri of Mitsubishi Petrochemical

Co. Ltd. for his research on oxidation cata- lysts and his contributions to the Society’s activities. The Society Honorary Award was given to Professor Y. Saito of the University of Tokyo for his contributions over many years to the progress of fun- damental and applied catalytic chemistry.

The Catalyst Preparation Chemistry Prizes, established in 1989 by the Associ- ation for Promotion of Catalyst Preparation Chemistry, were awarded to Professor A. Kikuchi of Waseda University and Dr. S. Uemiya of Seikei University for the prep- aration of a palladium thin film having se- lective hydrogen transmission properties,

to Drs. A. Kato and T. Yamashita of Hitachi Co. Ltd. for the preparation of high-tem- perature heat-resistant p-alumina, and to Drs. K. Eguchi of Kyushu University and M. Machida of Miyazaki University for the preparation of high-temperature combus- tion catalysts.

applied catalysis A: General Volume 108 No. 1 - 1 July 1993