MERCon 2016

### FOR AUTHORS

MERCon 2016 solicits research papers describing significant & innovative research contributions to all aspects of engineering. We invite submissions on a wide range of research topics, spanning both theoretical & systems research.

In addition to the main conference, MERCon will also co-host "ERU Symposium" – MERCon's predecessor aimed at stimulating and fostering student research. "MERCon-ERU Symposium" accepts only the extended abstracts. By the time of submission authors can indicate whether they are submitting the paper for MERCon or ERU Symposium.

Please note that survey/review papers will not be accepted.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Air, Maritime, & Public Transport
• Apparel Production Engineering
• Applied Statistics
• Automation Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Ceramic Engineering
• Climate Modeling
• Composite Materials
• Computer Networks & Security
• Construction Management
• Control Systems
• Data Science
• Design & Manufacturing Engineering
• Electrical Machines & Solid State Drives
• Electrical Power
• Electronic Engineering
• Energy & High Voltage Engineering
• Engineering Related HR & Marketing Management
• Entrepreneurship & Innovation
• Environmental Engineering
• Fashion Design & Product Development
• Fluid & Energy Engineering
• Food & Biochemical Engineering
• Geotechnical Engineering
• Hydraulics Engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• Machine Vision & Image Processing
• Mechatronics and Micromechatronics
• Metallurgical Engineering
• Micro/Nano Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS/NEMS)
• Mineral Exploration & Process Engineering
• Mining Engineering
• Mobile & Cloud Computing
• Nano Science & Technology
• Numerical Methods In Engineering
• Ocean Engineering
• Petroleum Engineering
• Polymer Engineering
• Quality Management
• Robotics
• Software Engineering
• Structural Engineering
• Supply Chain & Logistics
• Technical Textiles
• Technology Management
• Telecommunication Systems
• Textile Process Engineering
• Thermodynamics
• Transportation Engineering

• Paper submission (Extended deadline, Firm): Jan 25, 2016 11:59pm (AoE - anywhere on Earth) Feb 8, 2016
• Acceptance Notification:March 11 March 15, 2016
• Camera Ready Paper: March 21 March 28, 2016
• Registration: March 18 March 28, 2016
• Workshops: April 4, 2016
• Conference: April 5-6, 2016

#### MERCon Paper Submissions

All accepted and presented full papers to be submitted for publication to the IEEE Xplore.

• All papers should be written in English with following maximum paper lengths:
• 6 printed A4 pages.
• Use the following template while preparing full papers:

Use the following guidelines while submitting full papers:

• All paper submissions are through EasyChair.
• Please note that 1st time users need to create a new EasyChair account.
• Manuscript submission should be in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) only.
• Manuscripts that do not conform to the above formatting guidelines will not be considered.
• We request all authors to carefully revise the manuscript for language and formatting.
• All submitted manuscript will undergo a plagiarism check using a suitable tool.

MERCon strongly discourages changes and, in particular, withdrawals of papers once submitted and included in the program. To avoid the likelihood of this, authors are strongly encouraged to get all necessary company and/or government approvals prior to submitting the paper to the conference.
If under any circumstances it becomes necessary for the author(s) to withdraw or change a paper, MERCon policy dictates that the request to do this must come directly from the author(s) and not from any third party. The author(s) will be held liable for all costs that are incurred. It would then be up to the author(s) to get reimbursed for the expense from any third party if he/she belives it is justified.

#### ERU Symposium Paper Submissions

MERCon 2016 co-host ERU symposium along with the conference. All accepted and presented Extended Abstracts to be included in the ERU Symposium Proceedings.

• All papers should be written in English with following maximum paper lengths:
• 2 printed A4 pages.
• Use the following template while preparing full papers:

Use the following guidelines while submitting full papers:

• All Extended Abstracts submissions are through EasyChair.
• Please note that 1st time users need to create a new EasyChair account.
• Extended abstract submission should be in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) only.
• Extended abstracts that do not conform to the above formatting guidelines will not be considered.
• We request all authors to carefully revise the extended abstract for language and formatting.
• All submitted extended abstracts will undergo a plagiarism check using a suitable tool.

#### Instructions to Prepare IEEE Compliant PDF of Papers

Use the following instructions to prepare IEEE compliant PDF version of your paper (this is compulsory for all accepted papers):

• Visit IEEE PDF eXpress website.
• Create your PDF eXpress Account:
• First-time users should do the following:
2. Enter the following:
• 38401XP for the Conference ID
3. Continue to enter information as prompted.
4. An Online confirmation will be displayed and an email confirmation will be sent verifying your account setup.
• Previous users of PDF eXpress or IEEE PDF eXpress Plus need to follow the above steps, but should enter the same password that was used for previous conferences. Verify that your contact information is valid.
• Then use IEEE PDF eXpress to either create a new PDF file using your source file (e.g., .docx) or verify the PDF that you already prepared.

### Instructions for Camera Ready Paper Submission

#### 1. Formatting Camera ready paper

Final camera-ready paper submissions must be limited to 6 pages accommodating reviewers' comments. Please DO NOT include page numbers in final submission. Use style files provided in IEEE Manuscript Templates for Conference Proceedings. Papers with formatting that does not exactly follow the template will not be accepted by IEEE Xplore and cannot be published. The appropriate copyright clearance code notice is to appear on the bottom, left-hand side of the first page of each paper, as follows:

• For papers in which all authors are employed by the US government, the copyright notice is: U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright
• For papers in which all authors are employed by a Crown government (UK, Canada, and Australia), the copyright notice is: 978-1-5090-0645-8/16/$31.00 ©2016 Crown • For papers in which all authors are employed by the European Union, the copyright notice is: 978-1-5090-0645-8/16/$31.00 ©2016 European Union
• For all other papers the copyright notice is: 978-1-5090-0645-8/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE MS Word users can insert the appropriate copyright notice in a textbox, and place the box (without border) at the bottom left on the first page. LaTeX users may refer an example code as follows to add before the “\maketitle” code line. “\IEEEoverridecommandlockouts \IEEEpubid{\makebox[\columnwidth]{978-1-5090-0645-8/16/\$31.00~\copyright2016 IEEE \hfill} \hspace{\columnsep}\makebox[\columnwidth]{ }}”

See an example here.

IEEE policy requires that prior to publication all authors or their employers must transfer to the IEEE in writing any copyright they hold for their individual papers. Authors of accepted paper(s) must submit completed copyright form(s) via email to mercon@uom.lk.

Download the blank IEEE copyright form and enter “2016 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon)” as the IEEE PUBLICATION TITLE.

See an example here.

#### 3. Camera Ready Paper Submission

Please edit your paper by incorporating all reviewers' comments and use IEEE conference paper format. Make sure your paper is IEEE PDF compliant (recommend to use IEEE PDF eXpress). Please note that organizers reserve the right to reject your paper, if you don't modify your paper accordingly.

Please email the camera ready paper to mercon@uom.lk by Mar 28, 2016. Further make sure to email completed IEEE copyright form with the camera ready paper. Note: Please include “Camera Ready Paper - [paper No.]” in subject of your email.

#### MERCon Paper Presentations

• Each paper is assigned a total of 15 min.
• 12 min for presentation
• 3 min for Q&A
• Please keep these time limitations in mind when preparing your presentation.
• Presenters are asked to arrive at their session 10 minutes prior so the Session Chair can confirm who is presenting the paper and that they are present.
• Time limit will be strictly enforced due to the large number of papers in each session.
• We recommend one of the authors to present the entire paper.
• Each room will contain a multimedia projector and a laptop with Microsoft PowerPoint, Impress, and PDF reader installed.
• Presenters may bring their own laptop or use the laptop provided in the conference room. However, please be sure to preview your presentation with the projector before starting your session.
• Papers that are not presented will not be send to IEEE Xplore for publication.

#### ERU Symposium Posters

• Posters are presented during the Morning and Afternoon Tea Breaks on April 5.
• At least one authors is expected to be present at the poster during these timeslots to answer any questions auidiance may have.
• A poster can be up to 4' x 3' (1.22m x 0.91m) in size.
• Make sure font size and illustrations are large enough to be seen from a meter or so.
• Authors need to print and bring their own posters. Conference will give push pins and boards to attach posters.
• All posters must be necessarily mounted before 9:00am on April 5. They should remain mounted until the end of the afternoon Tea session.
• The posters in each session will be numbered. The list of numbers will be posted in the lobby. Please use your numbered location.

Engineering Research Unit, Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Telephone: +94 11 265 0286 ext. 3044, Facsimile: +94 11 265 0622, Email: mercon@uom.lk