University of Novi Sad Faculty of Science Department of Mathematics and Informatics Novi Sad, Serbia SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT 'NOVI SAD ALGEBRAIC CONFERENCE' (NSAC 2009) Novi Sad, August 17-21, 2009 Topic areas: -universal (general) algebra -semigroups, groups and (semi)group-related structures -lattices and other ordered structures -algebraic methods in computer science -clones and many-valued logics The aim of this conference is to review and promote the most recent research trends in the above areas. Its scientific program will consist of a number of invited 50-minute plenary lectures and 20-minute contributed talks. The number of sections will depend on the number of presented talks. List of plenary speakers: Libor Barto (Univerzita Karlova, Praha) Victor Dalmau (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona) Martin Goldstern (Technische Universität, Wien) Marcel G. Jackson (La Trobe University, Bundoora - Melbourne) Keith A. Kearnes (University of Colorado, Boulder) Marcin Kozik (Unywersitet Jagiellonski, Kraków) Edmond W. H. Lee (Simon Fraser University, Burnaby) Ralph N. McKenzie (Vanderbilt University, Nashville) Jaroslav Nešetril (Univerzita Karlova, Praha) Norman R. Reilly (Simon Fraser University, Burnaby) Alexander Yu. Ol'shanskii (Vanderbilt University, Nashville) Olga B. Sapir (Vanderbilt University, Nashville) Mark V. Sapir (Vanderbilt University, Nashville) Matthew Valeriote (McMaster University, Hamilton) Mikhail V. Volkov (Ural State University, Ekaterinburg) Friedrich Wehrung (Université de Caen) Registration: If you intend to participate, please send an e-mail to: nsac2009@im.ns.ac.yu The email should contain the following information: full name affiliation address do you intend to give a talk? - if the answer is "yes", then we need: a tentative title, and later an abstract (in any dialect of TeX) with a definitive title and what you need for the talk (beamer, overhead projector, chalk and chalkboard,...) REGISTRATION DEADLINE: May 31, 2009 ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: June 30, 2009 The booklet containing submitted abstracts will be available at the conference. The conference fee: 70 EUR or 90 USD (or the equivalent amount in Serbian dinars). The payment should be paid at the conference in cash. The registration fee is waived for the participants affiliated with the Universities of Novi Sad and Szeged, also for the invited speakers. TRAVEL By Air: Belgrade: We recommend flying into Belgrade International airport 'Nikola Tesla' located in Surcin, a suburb of Belgrade. Luxurious hotels in Novi Sad often offer a transport to and from Belgrade airport, so you may be able to arrange it with the hotel. If you want one of us to pick you up by car, we will try to arrange it. Besides usual airlines, Belgrade airport is also serviced by Germanwings, which are one of the cheap European companies (like Ryan Air, Easy Jet,...), so you should check if they have a particularly good deal. Alternatively, the airport is served by the bus line 72 from Belgrade City Transit Company (every half an hour, 100 dinars) and by JAT Airways bus (every hour, 160 dinars). Both bus lines stop in the downtown Belgrade, a short distance from the long-distance bus station and the train station, which are located next to each other (separated by a parking lot) and where you can pick up transportation to Novi Sad. Ask a someone where to exit the bus, though the final stations are not too far from the train/bus stations anyway. Bus line 72 terminates at 'Zeleni Venac' which is 5 minutes' downhill walk from the long-distance bus station, while JAT Airways bus stops at the train station, and then goes up Nemanjina street to hotel Slavija where it terminates. If you take the JAT bus and don't exit at the train station, just backtrack down Nemanjina Street to find the train station (10 minutes downhill). Follow the directions for train and bus transport from that point. There are several taxis from the airport which can take you either to downtown Belgrade or even directly to Novi Sad, though we do not recommend them as they are expensive (some as much as 15-20 Euros to Belgrade and 60-70 Euros to Novi Sad). Budapest: Another airport to which you may consider flying is Budapest airport. Again, check first if your hotel offers an airport transit to and from Budapest and for which price. If it does not, we recommend reserving in advance a Gea Tours shuttle which can take you to Novi Sad in about 5 hours for 70 Euros (return ticket) or 40 Euros (one way). Their website is http://www.geatours.rs/eng/index.htm. This may make sense for non-European participants, as the price of long air travel to and from Budapest may be significantly cheaper than to Belgrade. Gea Tours shuttles will typically deliver you either to the address of your choice in Novi Sad, or at the taxi parking near the train station. Make sure before travel which will be the case, and in case it is the train station, you can inform us so that we can pick you up from there, or follow the directions for bus/train transport. By Bus: Novi Sad long-distance bus station is located next to the train station. There are busses from main Belgrade bus station to Novi Sad every half an hour or so. When you arrive you should look for a taxi to take you to your hotel or to Math Department. As is usual in most European countries, there are taxis which cost significantly more operating near the train and bus stations, but they are being chased away by our local police as they operate without license. The large parking separated by the train station from the bus station contains usually the regular taxis which will not over-charge you. To make doubly sure of this, we recommend using taxis which are in one of the following companies: 'SOS', 'Grand', 'Vojvodjani', 'MAXI Novosadjani', 'Lav', 'Delta' and 'Pan'. By Train: The Serbian railway seems to have deteriorated pretty badly in the current crisis. According to some report, there is a fair chance of cancellation for most trains, and from our personal experience, delays are a certainty. Though it is two to three times cheaper to go from Belgrade to Novi Sad by train than by bus, we do not recommend it. The only train one can trust to be always running and late within reason is the international train operating between Budapest and Belgrade. We will post a link to train schedule when it becomes available in late June on the conference website. By Car: For Central and Eastern Europeans, arriving by car makes most sense economically, particularly if several people carpool (travel in the same vehicle). A VERY important issue is to buy a so-called 'green card' valid for Serbia with your car insurance company (in any European country except Russia, with whom we don't have a green card agreement), as otherwise the cost of mandatory car insurance at the border could be 100 Euros or more! Green card should cost you ten times less. You will probably arrive via highway E-75 (either from Hungary to the North, or Belgrade to the South), which has a toll gate between Hungarian border and Novi Sad and another one between Novi Sad and Belgrade. These tolls are payable in Serbian dinars, each should cost under 5 Euros for passenger cars (look for Category I vehicles prices at the toll gate). There are two exits of this highway leading to Novi Sad. Another possible direction you may be coming from is via highway E-70 from Zagreb, Croatia. In this case you should exit in the direction of Ruma (due North) and going through Ruma and Irig and crossing the Fruska Gora mountain end up in Novi Sad. This is about 40-50 km from the highway E-70, but a difficult drive due to a narrow and sometimes steep road and a large number of trucks using it. We will post detailed driving directions from each of the highways and a map of Novi Sad on the conference website. VISAS You should check our information before travel with your tourist agent and/or your Foreign Ministry. We are not guaranteeing the completeness of the information below, it is here just as a guideline. In particular, some other countries might not need a Serbian visa. According to the website of the Serbian Tourist Information Center, the citizens of the following countries DO NOT NEED A SERBIAN VISA for visits up to 90 days: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belorussia, Bolivia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costarica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Japan, Letonia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Corea, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Tunisia, United States of America, Vatican. Additionally, people having some types of passports issued by the following countries also DO NOT NEED A SERBIAN VISA for visits up to 90 days: - usual passports only: Mexico - official and diplomatic passports, as well as usual passports with a clause "on business visit in...": Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Kyrgistan, Mongolia, People's Republic of Corea, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Turkmenistan. - official and diplomatic passports only: Ecuador, Guinea, Pakistan, Peru, Turkey. - diplomatic passports only: Egypt Note: If the new agreement with RUSSIAN FEDERATION is ratified before the conference, then all citizens of Russian Federation will be allowed to visit Serbia without a visa for up to 30 days, or 90 days with a diplomatic or official passport (this is a long-term bilateral agreement replacing the short-term unilateral decision of Serbian government from 2008 to allow any Russian Federation citizen to visit up to 90 days). If you didn't find your country on the list above, or if you have obtained a different information from an official source, then you probably NEED A VISA. Serbian visas require an invitation letter which you can get from us, as well as some other proofs (proof of personal funds, return ticket, medical insurance and of arranged lodging while in Serbia). We recommend that you ascertain if you need a visa as soon as possible and if you do, to contact us. We will make haste in sending you the invitation letter so that the visa process does not prevent you from participating. Also, by Serbian law, the lodging establishment in which a foreigner stays is required to report this to the Police Department, so do not be surprised or alarmed if your hotel desk asks for your passport when you first arrive. They will give it back to you within half an hour (how long depends on the hotel staff efficiency; it can even be a few minutes). GETTING AROUND Although Novi Sad has a very well-organized bus transit system, most people will find that our (very cheap) taxis are the most convenient way to move about. The minimal price of a taxi ride is 100 dinars with most companies (just over 1 Euro) and most rides within the city will cost less than 200 dinars. We recommend the following taxi companies: 'SOS', 'Grand', ' Vojvodjani', 'MAXI Novosadjani', 'Lav', 'Delta' and 'Pan'. The majority of attractions of the city are within walking distance of each other and of the Math Department, as the points of interest are mostly located in the downtown area. Novi Sad has a large number of restaurants which offer mostly traditional Serbian and Vojvodina cuisine, but there is a growing number of restaurants specializing in international cuisine. Also, there are many bakeries where one can buy pastry products and bars and cafes of all sorts. CLIMATE We may expect a very warm and sunny weather in August in Novi Sad (perhaps 35 C/95 F, and it can certainly get warmer than that), though rain is not unheard-of. If there is rain, it can be a violent Summer storm. We recommend you bring clothes for both eventualities. ACCOMMODATION [...this is updated under Useful_Info>Accommodation...] Further information concerning accommodation, travel, social events, schedule of talks, proceedings and other will also be available at the conference Web page http://sites.im.ns.ac.yu/events/2009/nsac2009 which is updated continuously. E-mail: nsac2009@im.ns.ac.yu Web: http://sites.im.ns.ac.yu/events/2009/nsac2009 Regular mail: NSAC 2009 Department of Mathematics and Informatics Trg Dositeja Obradovica 4 21000 Novi Sad Serbia