The objective of the conference was to provide a forum for engineers, architects and scientists to discuss a broad range of research and design methods for various problems related to snow engineering. Specialists in building and civil engineering, environmental engineering, energy engineering, urban planning, and regional development as well as snow scientists were brought together for the conference. The technical sessions were in five thematic areas as follows: Snow technology and science; Building and construction engineering; Infrastructure and transportation; Housing and residential planning; Development strategy in snow countries. The 115 papers provide keys to realize more comfortable living conditions in snow countries and to overcome many problems in heavy snow regions.

Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences was first conceived, published, and disseminated by the Center for Information and Numerical Oata Analysis and Synthesis (CINOAS) * at Purdue. University in 1957, starting its coverage of theses with the academic year 1955. Beginning with Volume 13, the printing and dissemination phases of the activity were transferred to University Microfilms/Xerox of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the thought that such an arrangement would be more beneficial to the academic and general scientific and technical community. After five years of this joint undertaking we had concluded that it was in the interest of all con cerned if the printing and distribution of the volumes were handled by an interna tional publishing house to assure improved service and broader dissemination. Hence, starting with Volume 18, Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences has been disseminated on a worldwide basis by Plenum Publishing Cor poration of New York, and in the same year the coverage was broadened to include Canadian universities. All back issues can also be ordered from Plenum. We have reported in Volume 33 (thesis year 1988) a total of 13,273 theses titles from 23 Canadian and 1 85 United States universities. We are sure that this broader base for these titles reported will greatly enhance the value of this important annual reference work. While Volume 33 reports theses submitted in 1988, on occasion, certain univer sities do report theses submitted in previous years but not reported at the time.