Dear Subscribers to the SPT2002 mailing list and pre-registered participants,

This circular has two main points:

(1) Remind you of the 15/3 deadline if you intend to apply for financial help. Soon after this date we will decide how to allocate the available funds, so late applications are possible but can be considered only if something is left.

(2) Announce that we have finally decided to publish proceedings for the SPT2002 conference; the volume will be published by World Scientific, like in SPT98 and SPT2001, and it will be distributed to participants (included in the registration fee, no matter if full or reduced). Details about deadline for submitting papers - presumably something like one or tone and half months after the end of the conference - and length of the contributions will be communicated later on. If you intend to submit a contribution to the conference proceedings, it would be nice to have your registration form by the week after Easter, i.e. 7 April (this is also the date by which Hotel Palmasera requires to have your reservations), so we can plan matters such as, indeed, length of contributions and total number of pages.

A couple of minor points, as we are circulating this message:

(3) With this occasion, I would like to confirm that you can by now make your hotel reservation; details of contact number/e-mail are available on our website. I stress that this year, at variance with 2001, you have to make this reservation by yourself; we will make the reservation only for participants arriving from eastern european countries (or others from where transfer of funds can be a problem). Please don't forget that the rooms which have been reserved for the conference participants will be kept only up to 7 April; after this date there is no guarantee you will get an accommodation at Palmasera. When making your reservation, be sure to mention the SPT2002 conference so you will get the discount rates. You can extend your stay (before or after the conference) at the same rates.

(4) Several of you have sent in the registration form but reserved to announce a title later on; it is often genuinely useful for those who are undecided about participation to have titles, albeit tentative: thanks for sending in one when you have made your mind (you can then change it).

Looking forward to seeing you in Cala Gonone

Giuseppe Gaeta (also on behalf of Simonetta Abenda and Sebastian Walcher)