Foreword to the 14th IEEE DDECS symposium

We cordially welcome all participants of DDECS 2011 in Cottbus. You find yourselves in the southeastern corner of the German state of Brandenburg, very close to the border with Poland and not far from the Czech Republic. Our region is called “Lausitz” in German, “Łużyce” in Polish and “Lužice“ in Czech language. It is one of a few regions in Germany which have a second official language, Sorbic, and also Cottbus has an official second name - Chósebuz. Lausitz is definitely an international region by history, since part of the area is now located on Poland, but also because Sorbic is reasonably well understood by Polish and Czech native speakers. Furthermore, the king of Bohemia in Prague was the supreme ruler of the region for centuries.