For our October 2015 issue, we cover recent patents granted in the area of iris recognition. The section below covers patents granted recently for various iris recognition algorithms, iris image quality improvement, off-angle gaze correction, security improvements for iris recognition systems, designing a short distance iris camera, and combined face and iris recognition. A system introduced in patent no.

During the last couple of months a few new Signal Processing and Machine Learning contests were initiated. Some of the ongoing ones with a strong relation to Signal Processing include a Kaggle contest for predicting hand movements from EEG data and one on forecasting quote prices of tubes in construction engineering.

Researchers at the University of Tubingen, Germany, have developed a deep learning algorithm that can turn photos into any style from Van Gogh to Picasso. The system uses neural representations to separate and recombine content and style of arbitrary images, providing a neural algorithm for the creation of artistic images.

Welcome to the Fall 2015 edition of the IEEE Speech and Language Processing Technical Committee's Newsletter! This issue of the newsletter includes 5 articles and announcements from 11 contributors, including our own staff reporters and editors.

Three new Members-at-Large will take their seats on the Signal Processing Society Board of Governors beginning 1 January 2015 and will serve until 31 December 2018. The successful candidates are: Robert W. Heath Jr., Lina J. Karam and Min Wu.

Lei, Hong. (Michigan State University) “Modeling and fabrication of ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) sensors”, (2015), Advisor: Tan, Xiaobao Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) are an important class of electroactive polymers (EAPs) with built-in actuation and sensing capabilities. They have received tremendous interest for their potential in various sensor applications.

Chen, Jeane, (Northwestern University) “Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) Microspheres for Localized, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Monitored, Transcatheter Delivery of Sorafenib to Hepatocellular Carcinoma”, Advisor: Larson, Andrew C., Shea, Lonnie D Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary liver cancer and is the sixth most common cancer worldwide.

A future characterized by an explosion of network connected devices, comprising smart grids, smart transportation systems, smart health, and more generally the Internet of Things, opens new doors to potentially disastrous scenarios if security is not built in from the ground up.

Call for Papers IEEE Signal Processing Society IEEE Transactions on Signal and Information Processing over Networks SPECIAL ISSUE ON INFERENCE AND LEARNING OVER NETWORKSNetworks are everywhere. They surround us at different levels and scales, whether we are dealing with communications networks, power grids, biological colonies, social networks, sensor networks, or distributed Big Data depositories.