IUTAM-IAHR Symposium on Ice-Structure Interaction Professor Bez Tabarrok, Chairman of the Canadian National Committee (CNC) of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) invited Professor Derek Muggeridge to organize a symposium on ice structure interaction. Dr. Muggeridge readily agreed and prepared a proposal that was endorsed by the CNC and presented to the General Assembly Meeting of IUTAM for their consideration. This Assembly gave its approval and provided the local organizing committee with the names of individuals who were willing to serve on the Scientific Committee. Dr. Muggeridge became chairman of this committee and Dr. Ian Jordaan became co-chairman of this committee as well as chairman of the local organizing committee. The symposium followed the very successful previous meeting, chaired by Professor P. Tryde in Copenhagen, by ten years. Both symposia uti lized Springer-Verlag to publish their proceedings. The Faculty of En gineering and Applied Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland were particul{lXly pleased to host this prestigious symposium as it marked the twentieth anniversary of its Ocean Engineering Research Centre."

The two International Symposia on Spinal Cord Monitoring, held in Tokyo in 1981 [Homma S, Tamaki T (eds) (1984) Fundamentals and clinical appli- cation of spinal cord monitoring. Saikon Publishing, Tokyo] and Erlangen in 1984, were remarkable in that they stimulated a gathering of electro- encephalographic, neurophysiological, orthopaedic, neurosurgical, anaes- thetic and pathological practitioners, presenting experimental, clinical and surgical experiences. The factor held in common was an understanding of the need to reduce the incidence and severity of iatrogenic neurological im- pairment associated with certain surgical and radiographic procedures. In the past there has been a tendency for the study of human evoked poten- tials (EPs) to be regarded as an end in itself, or at best a discipline which can be of limited assistance in certain problems of neurological diagnosis. Symposia such as these serve the valuable function of opening electro- physiological eyes to the problems to which EP techniques might usefully be devoted in other medical spheres. They also help those who practise electrophysiology as an adjunct to their speciality to comprehend such of the more complex properties of EPs as are relevant to their particular interests. The title of the Symposia and of this volume arose as a result of an his- torical accident. The pioneers of intraoperative neuronal monitoring were mostly surgeons specialising in the correction of spinal deformities or the removal of tumours.